The Honeymoon
by Kali Omisha
Summary: Scarlet was the name she chose for her self after helping to defend the Dam. Years have gone by and now the Mohave is truly peaceful. Until a man in a lab coat requires the curior to deliver something important to Boston.
1. To Boston

The birds started singing as sunlight lit up the distant mountains and shone brightly onto a small house perched on a low cliff. A woman with curly red hair opened her eyes and stretched letting the sunshine bath her skin. She turned to a man next to her and smiled as she wrapped her arm across his chest and snuggled closer. She felt him move as he ran a hand through her loose curls and down a long scar on her back. She heard him mumble quietly "Good morning Scarlet." The woman smiled as she held him tight. Out of everything she's done in the last few years marrying this man was by far the best.

"Good morning Craig Boone." She said with a smile as she sat up and looked down at his face. He hardly smiled but she knew by how calm he looked that he was finally happy. She leaned closer and kissed him softly on his lips. As she pulled away he reached for her and pulled her in for another more passionate kiss. She felt his other hand gently rest on her waist then slide down to her thigh. She giggled knowing where his hand was headed to next.

A sudden series of beeps and electronic chatter made them both break away and stare at the bedroom door.

Boone looked at the door then at the red head sitting next to him. "Scar, what's Eddie saying?"

The woman quickly got up and grabbed a pair of pants. "He says there is a…Doctor approaching?" The woman quickly grabbed a shirt and slid her petit muscular arms into it as it covered her many scars.

Boone got up and quickly dressed as he motioned to a trunk. "Should we get the guns?"

The woman's hair shimmered in the sunlight as she shook her head. "No, according to Ed its an older man and he appears to be happy." She started to reach for the door handle.

"Hay, Scar…"

Scarlet turned to look at Boone. He kissed her on her forehead and placed a combat knife in her hand. "You have got to stop talking to strangers without some kind of weapon." He kissed her again then sat on the bed to finish tying his boots. Scar put the blade in her boot and opened the bedroom door just in time to hear someone knocking at the front door.

Eddie started giving off a quick series of beeps as he floated excitedly through the air. "Calm down, I'm getting it." Scar opened the door and looked at the man before her. He was wearing a dirty lab coat and his hair was dark gray. Scar looked at his face and saw his eyes were a soft green. He looked to be about in his fifties and had a rifle slung across his back.

"Hello mam, I'm looking for someone called the courier, I've asked around and I've been told to look here." The man looked past Scar when he saw Boone walk out of the bedroom. "Is that him?"

Scar glared at the man and crossed her arms. "I'm the courier that your looking for. I'm sorry you've wasted your time though. I've retired and I don't do any of that kind of work anymore." She started to close the door but the man put his boot against the bottom of the door and stopped her.

"I need your help, please!" He took a step closer to Scar and pushed the door wider.

Boone quickly pulled out a hand gun and aimed for the man in a lab coat. "My wife said no! Let go of the door and go find another person to deliver whatever it is you want sent." Boone glared at the man through his scope.

The man put his hands up and backed away. "I don't mean any harm, please I just need someone to help escort me to Boston. I've discovered something that could save lives!" he looked at Scar then at Boone. "Three thousand caps, half now the other half when we get to the institute at the MIT ruins."

Scar sighed as she turned to look at Boone. "What do you think love?"

Boone shook his head. "I think he needs to take his caps and shove em up his ass. Then he needs to get the fuck out of here and get the hell off our property." He took a deep breath then glared at the older man. "What do you know that's worth my wife risking her life?"

The man put his hands down and kept his eyes on Boone. "I've discovered how to repair damaged tissue that stimpacks can't. I've discovered a way to reverse ghoulification ." He smiled as he looked at Boone and Scar.

Scar looked at Boone then back at the man in the lab coat. "Let Boone and I talk this over for a moment." She looked up at the little floating eye bot "Keep an eye on him Ed." She then walked towards Boone and into the bedroom. Boone shut the door behind them. "I don't like this Scar. But…if it helps save lives." He pulled Scar close to his chest and held her tight "I don't want to risk loosing you though, I've already lost so much…"

Scar closed her eyes. Its been a little over five years since she helped House and the NCR destroy the legion. The Mohave has been peaceful since then. So many people along the way needed her help and she had helped them without any thought of herself. She still had headaches from that bullet that put her in a grave. It was because of that one shot everything changed. She couldn't remember much of her past life. Didn't help she at one time had her brain removed and replaced with a machine. She got it back but her spine and heart was still machine. It was all thanks to a horrible choice to visit the Big MT. Boone had seen her fresh scars and her bald head when she returned. He almost lost it when she had told him everything that had happened. At that time they were just partners. It was also at that moment she realized he cared about her. She loved him, didn't know how the battle at the Dam was going to end. Because of that uncertainty she refused to show any feelings or emotion for him to keep him from hurting too bad if she had died.

Scar looked up at Boone. "Maybe a vacation would be nice. A kind of delayed honeymoon for us."

Boone blinked and looked down at Scars green eyes. "To Boston? That's across the entire U.S. it will take weeks maybe months to get there. Are you sure? Is it worth leaving our peace that we have created here to travel to only God knows what?" he kissed her forehead and let her go as he walked to the window and looked out at the tall tower of the Tops casino in the distance. "Your safe here. We built a home and…" he looked down at the ground where a small grave had been dug.

Scar stood next to her silent husband and stared at their sons grave. He died at birth a year ago. She placed her hand on Boones and leaned onto him. "Our son is here too. But maybe we need this. It's a sad peaceful here. We both lost so much here. Maybe if Boston's not too bad we can start over again."

Boone held her close. "Are you sure that's what you want?" he asked as he stared at her emerald eyes.

She smiled and nodded, in a quiet voice she looked up at him. "I love you." Scar then looked out the window at the grave then at new Vegas in the distance. She nodded and looked back at Boones soft face. "Yeah, its what I want, but only if you truly want it too."

Boone sighed as he closed his eyes. He opened them then smiled as he glanced out the window. "Then lets go to Boston."

(((Four months later)))

"Welcome to Boston" Scar smiled wearily at the sign. It had been a long and hard journey. Many times she thought she had maid a bad decision. She looked back at Boone as he walked behind her with a wagon following them. "We finally made it!" She ran back to him and embraced him tightly. The NCR ranger dusters they wore made it hard to fully embrace. She let go of Boone and looked at the scientist sitting on the wagon. He had a big smile on his face. "Home sweet home!" he took a deep breath and looked at Scar and Boone. "The institute isn't far from here." Eddie beeped excitedly as he floated behind the wagon.

Scar stopped walking and looked up. "So, are you finally going to give us the final coordinates to this institute you speak of?"

The scientist smiled "It's a highly guarded medical facility and it's a little tricky to find." He stood up and jumped down to the ground. He stood next to Scar and pointed at her pip boy. "I don't want to speak the coordinates out loud, ok if I dial it in? I've got a chip that will update your map of Boston and its got the directions of the institute programmed in it."

Scar looked at her pipboy. The map had been blank since Colorado. She nodded as she held her arm out. "Be careful with it Shaun. Its very valuable to me." The scientist had explained he was originally from Boston and was head of a research division at the institute.

Shaun nodded his head. He smiled as he winked at Boone. "Were closer then you think." He plugged the chip in and symphony music started playing from the pip boy. Shaun pulled out a gun suddenly and pointed it at Boone. "You both did your jobs well."

Scar aimed her gun at Shaun. "I had a feeling you were going to double cross us. Keep your caps and just go!" Shaun laughed as Beethoven played his last symphony.

He glanced at Scar but kept his eyes on Boone. "You're wife's a walking miracle of robotic human science. She's both human and machine."

Scar glared at Shaun with confusion. How the hell did he know about the modifications done to her at the Big MT.

Shaun smiled as if he was hearing her thoughts. "When an old signal was sent to the Institute about a successful machine to human intergrade we had to find the specimen. Took me a years to track down where that signal was coming from. Then it was merely a few months to track you down. Had to visit the Big MIT my self to see the research first hand. When DR. Mobius told me all about you and everything you had done, I knew I needed to get you back to Boston for our Synth research. With you we can prolong human life." Shaun smiled big when he heard a skip in the music playing from the pipboy. He shot at Boone then rushed at Scar wrapping his arms around her restraining her with unnatural strength. Scar screamed as she struggled to free her self then looked up at Boone. He had blood dripping down his arm and had his gun aimed at Shaun. She saw his gun flash. Scarlet stopped struggling and gasped as pain exploded in her chest.

Boone's eyes went wide as he shook his head. Scarlet coughed as she struggled to take another breath. "SCAR!" he started to take a step towards her. Shaun laughed as his lab coat blossomed with crimson blood. Suddenly the air around Scar shimmered as she managed to free an arm and reached out for Boone. With a bright flash of blinding light Scar and Shaun disappeared.

Boone stared at the emptiness and the blood puddle that was left behind. He shook his head as Eddie started flying around wildly making all kinds of distressed beeps and whirs. Boone shook his head and snapped out of it. He caught Eddie and held the little bot still. "Well find her, calm down and stop making so much noise!" the little eye bot let out a sad beep.

"I agree, we should have never came here." Boone saw blood on his glove and let go of the bot. Boone followed the blood to a small wound where he was grazed by Shaun's bullet. Old knowledge of field first aid kicked in and he quickly stopped the bleeding and found a stimpack. Boone quickly administered the shot and tossed the empty syringe aside. He grabbed a pack and loaded it with weapons and supplies. He hated leaving the wagon with all there belongings, but it would only slow his search for Scarlet. He grabbed a ranger helmet and put it on. He looked at Eddie and nodded. Boone started walking down the road with a little eye bot floating behind him.

(((Institute)))

Scar screamed when the bright light blinded her. The light got brighter then it faded. When she opened her eyes she saw she was in a round room. Shaun was still holding her tight restraining her. A door suddenly burst open and a tall woman walked into the room with a confused look on her face. She looked at Shaun then at Scar. "Shaun?" Scar felt the man let his grip loosen as a confused look blessed his face. He slowly turned with scarlet still tightly held in his arms.

Scarlet felt his body stiffen with shock as his grip on her tightened harder. Her ribs felt like they could break at any moment. "How did you get here? You were frozen!" His voice full of anger and rage. Scarlet tried to talk but his ever tightening grip was slowly getting tighter.

The dark haired woman shook her head as she stared at Shaun with sadness and anger in her eyes. "Damn it! He must have made a Synth of his self. Epsilon Nordea Deameion."

Shaun started to speak but he suddenly went limp dropping his arms from around Scar. She fell to her knees and was gasping for air. Scarlet could still feel deep throbbing pain in her chest as she looked down to see her chest was covered in blood. Somehow Boones bullet went through Shaun and caught her in an unprotected spot where her armor was damaged already.

She stared as blood kept trickling out of the bullet wound. Scar blinked when felt hands pulling on the ranger helmet she was wearing. She jerked back as she pulled out a combat knife from her boot. The woman that had spoke to Shaun put her hands up. "I mean you no harm." Her voice was strong and sad.

Scar laughed quietly. Her voice was week and failing. "That's the same thing he said back at the Mohave." Scar nodded at Shaun as the taste of blood spread in her mouth with every ragged breath.

The woman kept her hands up as she spoke calmly. "I apologize for any wrongdoing this man may have done to you. I will fix, repair or replace anything you need." The woman looked at the blood that was oozing out from under the duster. "But it looks like you need medical help more then anything, please let me help you."

Scar kept the knife between herself and the woman. The more Scar looked at her face, the more she looked like the old man standing silently next to them. Her hair was a dark chestnut and her eyes were green with flecks of gold, just like Shaun's eyes. The tall woman looked young and must be Shaun's daughter or some other kind of related family.

Scarlet just shook her head slightly as she struggled to talk. "Just… give me a stimpack, send me back ..." Scar felt her head spin and her stomach turned with nausea. The knife fell from her hand as she fought to stay sitting up.

The woman immediately grabbed the knife and threw it aside. She grabbed the latches on the helmet and opened it to pull it off. Scar felt her hair fall in a cascade of ringlets and matted sweaty chunks. She closed her eyes as the cool air hit the sweat on her face. She blinked her eyes to readjust her vision and tried to take a deep breath only to feel the air rattle in her chest and force her to cough.

The woman quickly dropped the helmet and shook her head at Scar as she coughed up more blood. "Your beyond what a stimpack can heal and I can't send you back to those coordinates in this condition. What is your name?" She asked as she moved closer to Scar and with surprisingly strong hands laid her on her back as she pulled out a stimpack.

Scar tried to struggle but was too weak and felt dizzy as she tried to sit back up. The older woman gently pushed her back down. Scar let out an odd laugh as she looked at the woman's eyes. "Why does it matter? Your just going to do experiments on me anyway" Scar was taking short shallow breaths as she fought to stay awake.

The sighed then glared at the motionless man standing next to them. "I don't know what his intentions were, but there not mine." She looked up and spoke to the air. "I need a med team and a Synth recovery crew here immediately!"

A soothing female voice replied. "Yes director Nora."

Scar looked up at the woman and gave a faint smile. "Nora? My name… Scarlet ." She closed her eyes as a trickle of blood fell from the corner of her mouth. She tried to speak more, but it only came as quiet whispers. Scar felt her armor being taken off in pieces as she faintly heard Nora talking. She opened her eyes long enough to see more people in lab coats come in with a stretcher. She tried to push their hands away but they fell limp to her sides as she let out a final breath and closed her eyes.


	2. searching

Boone walked with Ed-e fallowing close behind until he saw buildings start to take shape in the landscape. So far Boston appeared to be colder and wetter then the dry Mohave desert. He kept quiet and stayed mostly in the shadows not knowing what fresh hells to expect in a place like this. He had been walking for a few days now and was starting to feel the physical drain of what little sleep he had gotten. Before Scarlet appeared in his life sleeping was just one nightmare after another. The memories of shooting his first wife to save her from being a slave and the massacre at Bitter springs weighed heavy on his soul.

Maybe if he had done things differently his first wife and child would still be alive, and all those people at Bitter springs…Boone shook his head trying to forget the images burned into his mind. Boone saw a chain link fence then saw some heavy machinery spread about inside. Shaun had warned them about how much radiation was in the glowing sea south of Boston, it was his idea to enter through the northern part of Boston to avoid it.

Boone continued walking slowly as he looked around trying to find life or anything he could use to barter for bullets later. He walked by a small building and saw movement inside. He quickly pulled out a gun and aimed it at the person standing inside. He laughed when he realized it was just his reflection in the glass. Boone looked at his reflection and saw the red lights of his NCR ranger helmet was steadily glowing brighter as the sun set. He put his gun away as he walked up a small ramp and looked out the other window. He saw he was next to a large platform built into the ground. It had the markings of a vault on it and it was closed tightly. Boone looked at the old machinery spread out around the place and saw old skeletons fossilized by the nuclear blasts from long ago.

Boone looked past the platform and saw smoke was rising into the air close by. He quietly left the building and approached the edge of the rocky ground surrounding the platform. Boone knelt close to the ground and peered down at the source of the smoke.

Ed-e hovered close and kept low to keep from attracting any attention. Boone had to guess what the beeps and whirrs the little bot let out meant. Scarlet was the one that knew how to understand eye bot language. The little bot understood him and listened to what he had to say and that was good enough. Boone put his hand on top of the bot and pushed it down as he pulled out his sniper rifle to look through his scope. It was a small settlement down below and he wanted to check it out to make sure it was safe before giving away his presence. The little bot gave a quiet low whistle as Boone watched the small settlement. "I'm just making sure its safe."

Boon saw people going about there daily business. He watched as some people worked on what appeared to be workbenches while others worked in gardens. He noticed a few of the people had better armor then the others and carried various weapons as they paced from guard post to guard post. Then Boon saw a gun turret. "Damn." He said in a quiet whisper.

Boon put his rifle away and stood up. These people looked friendly enough, but it would probably be better to approach them in the morning.

Boone took his supplies to the small building and unrolled a bedroll. Boone looked up at the bot, "Will you be my lookout and warn me if anything comes this way?"

The little bot bounced up and down and let out a happy sounding whistle. Boone nodded and laid on the makeshift bed. It wasn't comfortable but it was better then other things he slept on. Boone thought of the rocky cliffs he had to sleep on while in the NCR and he took a deep breath trying to keep the oncoming memories at bay. Scarlet would always seem to know when his mind was starting to dwell on the darkness from his past. She would start talking about the future they were going to have. Her words helping him fall into a peaceful sleep. He flicked the lights in his helmet off as he let his head fall back. It had been a long time since his last nightmare and was dreading what little sleep he was going to get as he slowly drifted off and was motionless as the crickets chirped.

Boone opened his eyes and saw he was positioned on a cliff above bitter springs. He was laying on his stomach with a sniper rifle in his hands. His spotter was speaking quietly on the radio as he looked through the scope at possible targets.

Boone's face showed confusion when he saw an old man and a young child working on making food at a campfire. Then he saw an old woman lead a group of girls to another tent, he watched as they all went in and came back out holding babies and toddlers. Boone looked for the Khans that were described to be the worst of the worst. Boone shook his head as he watched a little girl pick a flower and hand it to the old man cooking. This was wrong. The only people he saw below him were women and children. Boone looked at his spotter and pointed at the people below. "Tell headquarters their is no hostile Kahn's down there. Just women and children." The man nodded and relayed what Boone had told him over the radio. It was cloudy and Boone could hear the radio transmissions were acting up.

He felt the man place a hand on Boons shoulder. "Orders are to shoot em all now!" Boone shook his head. "This is WRONG!"

Suddenly the camp erupted in screams and explosions as the NCR ground units advanced. Boone watched horrified as the old man dove for the little girl and shielded her from a frag grenade. The group of women with the children ran for the safety of the caves above Bitter springs. Boone aimed his gun at a man rushing at one of the NCR patrol men. He pulled the trigger and the man grabbed his chest as he looked in Bones direction with fear and pain etched on his face. Boone cussed quietly when he saw it was just a teen.

Boone could hear the screaming get louder and the gun shots kept firing non stop. A sudden explosion shook the small building and Boone jerked awake as his hand went to the rifle next to him as he awoke from another nightmare.

He could still hear gun shots and screaming as he ran to the edge of the platform to look down at the settlement. He flicked on the lights in his helmet and looked down at the chaos below.

There were several giant Radscorpions attacking as people ran or tried to protect them selves. Boone saw a little girl cower as a scorpion lifted its tail high above her. Boone quickly steadied his rifle and pulled the trigger. The stinger at the end of the tail exploded as his bullet pierced it. The creature started shrieking as it thrashed around. It struck the girl with one of its pinchers and she fell to the ground.

Boone pulled the trigger again. With a loud blast the creature quit moving as its head exploded. Boone sighted in several other scorpions and blasted them before they could do anymore damage. Boone looked down at his rifle and started to reload it.

"Stop right there and put your weapon down!" Boone dropped his gun and stood up with his hands open. Ed-e let out a series of warning beeps and whistles. "Enough Ed-e, I know there are people pointing guns at us." Ed-e let out a sad whine.

"Turn and face us, tell me who you are and what your intentions are!"

Boone slowly turned and saw a group of people. A tall dark skinned man, and a woman with short hair, and what looked to be a male teenager. Boone could see the teen's gun was shaking as he stared at Boone with terrified eyes. Boone noticed the safety on his gun was on. Poor kid, was probably his first time holding a gun by the looks of it. Boone nodded at the teen and spoke in a calm voice, "Word of advice kid. Always make sure the safety is off before you aim your gun at someone." The teen blinked as the others kept their guns aimed at the stranger in front of them. He looked at his gun then at the others with an embarrassed look on his face as they shook their heads. He flipped the safety off and aimed his gun at Boone.

Boone looked at the man in front and saw a slight smile flash across his face. He was tall and well built. He wore a duster and a cowboy hat. His skin was dark but his eyes held sadness and pain. Boone took a deep breath and spoke, "My name is Craig Boone. I'm just passing through to find a place called the institute. I didn't intend to cause trouble, but I saw your settlement was being attacked and I helped."

All eyes glared at Boone as every gun was cocked. Ed-e let out a scared whistle then an angry whirring of gears as he started to fire up his lasers. Boone slowly placed a hand on the angry eye bot. "Calm down Ed-e, Don't shoot."

The woman next to the dark skinned man spoke in a thick accent Boone was unfamiliar with. Her hair was short and it was a deeper red then Scarlet's hair. Her eyes were green and she was blessed with a multitude of freckles on her face. She was built solid like a fighter, but was lean and very feminine. She pointed a finger at Boone as she angrily yelled at the dark skinned man. "He's probably a Damn synth spy Preston!"

The teen behind her nodded as he tightened his grip on his gun. The dark skinned man in front held a hand up and looked directly at Boone. "Synth or not he helped us Cait. What business do you have with the institute?"

Boone glanced at his gloved hand and knew that underneath was his wedding ring. He let out a sad sigh he looked back at the group of people in front of him. "My wife was kidnaped and I think that's where she might be. I'm getting her back, just point me in the direction an ill be gone." Boone heard Ed-e let out a sad whistle.

The dark skinned man gave Boone a look of sympathy as he loosened his grip on his gun. "Everyone has lost a loved one or friend to that damn place." He glanced around at the people behind him "We've lost someone special ourselves." He lowered his gun and motioned for the others to do the same. He then gave Boone a friendly smile as he held a hand out, "The names Preston Garvy, the current General of the minutemen, this is Caitlin Bosworth and…"

A loud gunshot made everyone jump and pull their guns back out. The young teen yelled in surprise as he dropped his gun. "I didn't mean to!...it just went off!" Preston and Cait both shook their heads as the General pointed at the panicked teen behind him, "Damn it Shaun! That's it! More gun training before you hold another gun, understand!" He glared at the boy as he and Cait put away the guns they were holding. Preston turned back to Boone and shrugged, "He's still learning, the boy lost both his father and mother." Preston then held his hand out to Shaun. "Hand me the gun Shaun." The teen hung his head as he handed the gun over. Preston looked it over and gave Shaun a puzzled look. "This is not the gun you were given. Where did you get this?"

Shaun looked at the gun then at the man holding it. "I just picked it up from the ground, found it in some Radscorpion blood."

Preston shook his head as he poked his gloved hand at the sticky sweet smelling blood that was on it. "You need to see Curie when we get back to the settlement. You should know better, Radscorpion blood is just as bad as their venom."

Boone started to pick his rifle up from the ground and felt his foot squish in his boot. As he reached for his gun he looked down to see fresh blood was dripping down his leg. Boone looked at the blood confused. He never felt anything, he followed the blood up his leg and saw a small hole in his worn out armor over his stomach. Boone glanced at the teen and realized it probably happened when his gun went off. Boone touched the hole wondering why he didn't feel it. The pain must have been masked by the left over adrenaline from shooting the Radscorpions and the current situation he was in. Boone unlatched a piece of the armor and pulled a glove off to feel how bad it was. He hissed quietly as pain radiated from his stomach as he pushed his hand under and felt the wound with his fingers. He pulled his hand out and saw it was covered in blood. He stared at the blood on his hand and could hear the General was still scolding the young teen as Boone looked back at his armor. Should have repaired it when he had the chance.

Without seeing the wound he guessed a few days rest and a few stimpacks would patch it up at least. Boone shook his head, he didn't have time to stop moving that long. Scar needed him and he needed to find her as fast as possible. Boone looked for Ed-e and thought about what he had stored in the little bot. A super stimpack and a med-ex should work for now.

Boone stumbled as he reached out for Ed-e. He kept all his first aid supplies in the little bot's storage compartment since he had no room left in his pockets. Ed-e let out a sharp whine then a worried whistle when he saw Boone's blood. The General quit scolding at the teen and turned to look at the panicked bot with confusion.

Boone gritted his teeth as the pain got worse, it felt like his stomach was on fire and it was spreading. He took another step towards Ed-e and stumbled on a loose rock falling to the ground. He saw the woman named Cait rush over to him.

She looked at the blood on his leg and shook her head as she followed it up to his stomach. "He's been shot!" she knelt down and started to reach for Boone to help him.

Boone pushed her back and tried to get up. "I'm fine…I need…Ed-e!" The little bot went to him as the pain made him cringe as he slowly stood up. Boone fumbled for the compartment on Ed-e and pulled out a super stimpack.

The woman got up and looked at the stimpack with wide eyes then at Boone. "Need help with that?" she asked as she tried to step closer to Boone again.

Boone pulled off the other glove and pulled his arm out of the duster. He shook his head as he wrapped the strap around his arm. The young teen approached as Preston looked at Boone then at the gun he had taken from the teen.

The teen looked up at Boone and spoke in a shaky voice. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean…"

Boone looked at the Teen as he pressed the plunger of the Super stim. "Accidents happen kid." Boone let out a hiss of pain as the chem pushed through his veins. His heart started beating harder as his body was forced to heal.

Suddenly his vision blurred as the after effects kicked in. Boone hated using chems but they were necessary at times. He felt burning in his stomach as his muscles formed back over the hole. Boone looked back at Ed-e and started to reach for the med-ex in his compartment. The sudden rush of a stim pack high hit him hard and he closed his eyes for a moment to let it pass. After what felt like an eternity he opened them to find he was being dragged by Cait and Preston. Boone felt like his body was burning as they dragged him to a building.

Boone tried to talk but something wasn't right. He still felt the pain in his stomach. He could hear them yelling about venom and for someone find Curie. He moaned as he was lifted onto a bed and heard the latches on his helmet snap open. A sudden rush of cool air hit his face as someone removed his helmet. He felt hands remove the worn armor on his body and he tried to push them away. He felt hands gently hold his arms down as distant voices spoke. Confused and in pain he laid there trying to think as Ed-e's sounds of distress rang out above him. Boone looked up and saw the little bot was hovering above him. "Ed-e calm…down…I'll be.." Boone gritted his teeth as everything got brighter, Boone saw the brightness fade slowly into darkness as Ed-e hovered over his motionless body.

(((institute)))

Scarlet heard a slow and steady beeping that was annoying and loud. She slowly opened her eyes to find out what the damn beeping was. She slowly forced her eyes to open and had to blink a few times to get her eyes to focus. She tried to look around with blurry eyes. She tired to blink as she realized she was in a large white room with what looked like machinery. Scar saw shadowy figures moving and guessed it was people walking around the room.

Scarlet tried to lift her hand to rub her eyes and felt it was restrained to something. She then tried to move her feet and felt they were restrained as well. Scarlet saw movement in the corner of her eye and she tilted her head to see what it was. She watched as the blurry shape moved closer and slowly formed into a person.

She saw the white lab coat first then looked up to see a blond woman with blue eyes with an expressionless face look down at her. "Please inform the director patient 4 is awake." A chime sounded as the blond shined a light into Scarlet's eyes making her turn away from the woman. "Please stay calm. Director Nora will explain things when she arrives." Scar tried to speak to the blond but she just turned away and disappeared from Scar's view.

Scarlet tried to take a deep breath to yell out for help but cringed as pain radiated from her chest. She heard footsteps approach the bed then saw a dark haired woman look down at her. She smiled as she laid a hand on Scarlet's shoulder. "Good to see your awake, gave us quite the scare when you stopped breathing." She looked at a machine next to scar and nodded. "Good, your stable and it looks like surgery was successful. You had a collapsed lung and blood was filling the area around it." The woman smiled as she placed a hand on Scarlet's stomach and smiled. "And don't worry, we were able to save the life growing in you as well."

Scarlet blinked. She looked up at the woman then at the hand on her stomach. The machine started beeping fast as scarlet started to comprehend what she was just told. Her eyes went wide as she felt tears fall down the sides of her face as she shook her head in disbelief. Not again, she didn't know if her heart could handle loosing another baby if something went wrong.

The woman looked down at Scarlet with worry on her face. She stroked scarlet's red hair and spoke in a soft voice. "I'm guessing you didn't know you were pregnant?"

Scarlet felt like her heart had stopped beating when the woman's words sunk in. Another baby. Boone's going to…Scarlet slowly remembered everything that had happened. She got a worried look on her face when she remembered the blood on Boone's arm.

Scarlet closed her eyes as the memory everything that had happened slowly came back to her. With out opening them she spoke in a quiet voice, her chest still hurt a bit but the pain was fading with every breath. "I need to go back, my husband… he's hurt and he probably going insane with worry." She felt tears fall as she opened her eyes and looked up at the woman, No, Scarlet thought, her name was Nora.

Nora shook her head and looked down at scarlet. "You've been out for about two days. We to remove the bullet then we took you into surgery to replaced your lung with one we grew from your DNA."

Scarlet shook her head knowing Boone would be long gone from the place they were at. Scarlet paused as her thoughts went back to what Nora had told her. Scarlet was still trying to wrap her mind around the idea of being pregnant again with thoughts of Boone mixed in. Scarlet thought about the four months it had taken for them to get to Boston. How could she of missed the signs? She had gained a bit of weight and she knew her feet had swollen, but she had figured it was because of all the junk food and traveling. She looked at Nora with a puzzled face and spoke as calmly as she could. " Are you sure I'm pregnant?"

Nora nodded her head and pushed a few buttons on a panel next to the bed. Scarlet felt the bed move and she felt her upper body was slowly reclining up. The bed stopped when she was almost sitting up. Scarlet saw Nora smile as she pushed another button. A floating hologram appeared over scarlet's stomach. Scarlet looked at it confused she then looked at it surprised when she saw it was two babies holding on to each other.

Nora smiled as she placed her hand on Scarlet's stomach. Scar felt slight fluttering in her stomach and saw the babies in the image move. Scar gasped when she realized what she was looking at. She watched in tears as the image rotated and Scar saw she had a boy and a girl in her womb.

Nora pressed another button and the image disappeared. Scar tried to move her hand to feel her stomach, but the restraint held her tight. Her voice cracked and every word hurt her heart as she spoke, "I was pregnant once before, but he died after he was born."

Nora moved closer and sat on the edge of the bed as she grabbed Scars hand. "I understand how hard that loss must have been. I had a son that I lost as a child long ago, then again as a man not long ago. If your ok with it, I would like to help you with this birth."

Scarlet looked a Nora confused. "Why?"

Nora took a deep breath. "I'm responsible for the man that brought you here, I may not of raised him my self, but he is still my son and it is still my duty as a mother to fix what my son has done."

Scarlet stared at Nora. "Are you talking about Shaun?" There was no way this woman was his mother. "You don't look to be…what 100?" Scarlet said sarcastically.

The woman laughed and stood up. "Your right, at 100 I probably looked a little younger, I'm a bit over 200 now."

Scarlet smiled thinking the woman was joking. She looked up at her and saw her face was serious. Scarlet's smile faded as she looked at Nora again. "Your not joking are you?"

Nora smiled. "I truly am an old lady. The man you came here with was a synth version of my son. He passed away several years ago…it's a long story, but ill try to make it short. My husband and I were cryogenically frozen with our son when the bombs fell. Some time when by and my son was taken and my husband murdered. Before I could do anything I was forced back into cryosleep. When I awoke I made it my mission to find my son." Nora took a deep breath and shook her head.

"When I found him he was as you have seen, an old man that had been raised by twisted people. My real son must have built that synth and sent it out before I arrived here at the institute. Before he passed away he announced me as the new head director."

Scarlet tried to understand what Nora had just told her. How she must have felt loosing her son and husband. Then finding her son a full grown man. It was unbelievable, but so was the thought of her having twins.

Scarlet tried to move again but was held tight. "So that makes you the boss here?" Scarlet asked as she glared at the restraints.

Nora nodded, "Yes and no, there is a board of people in place to keep things running smooth. All the board directors that were here when my son was alive has all been replaced. My son had a vision of changing humans into machines and they were still trying to push his agenda. I have completely redeveloped the institute to not change humans, but to help people live and thrive."

Nora glanced at Scar and for a moment Scarlet saw her slump and her eyes looked sad, she took a deep breath and stood back up and shook her head. "A lot has been sacrificed for me to make it to this point. Friends, family, and even lives. Soon the people that have hated the institute will embrace it once they know we are no longer the evil entity my son has created."

Nora approached scarlet and started undoing her restraints. "I apologize for having you restrained, but you did try to stab me with a knife when we first met. I also wanted to make sure you wouldn't try to run and hurt yourself if no one was here to see you wake up."

Nora undid the final restraint and smiled at Scarlet. "Rest here for a few more days then we will find your husband."

Scarlet rubbed her hands where the restraints had been. "I would rather leave now."

Nora shook her head. "Not yet, your still healing. Stay at lest two days, I've got your things already repaired and in a guest room waiting for you. Someone will be by in a few hours to help show you around and take you to your room, Ill be by later this evening to talk more." Nora gave Scarlet a smile as she left the room.

As soon as the doors slid shut behind her the smile faded. That woman was pregnant and had synthetic parts. The medic that had performed the surgery was shocked to find a heart and spine that was completely machine. He even noted that her skull had major scars on the bone and scalp. Scans showed a previous bullet wound and signs of brain surgery. Nora needed answers and she knew the woman would probably tell her, but she needed rest. Nora knew there was another she could get her answers from though.

Nora pressed a panel and got in a lift. She sighed as she mentally prepared herself for this. The door opened and she stepped out. She felt her heart beat faster as she approached the glass room that had once held a younger version of Shaun. She looked at the synth that was now inside and shook her head. "Shaun, reboot and respond."

The synth powered up and looked at Nora. It smiled as it sat on the bed. "Hello mother."


	3. Escape

Boone opened his eyes and saw Scarlet was sleeping next to him. He looked at her beautiful face and smile as he touched her bright red hair. She stirred but didn't wake up. He looked at the scar on her hairline and traced it with his finger. Scarlet smiled as she opened her eyes. "Time to wake up so soon?" she asked in a sleepy voice.

Boone wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. "No, not yet. I was just admiring the view."

Scarlet giggled as she kissed his nose. "I love you." She said in a quiet sleepy voice. He watched as she silently fell back into a quiet sleep.

Boone smiled as he whispered "I love you too".

Boone held her close as he listened to her soft breathing. Boone heard her take a breath and let it out. He waited to hear her breath in again but she never took another breath. Boone let go of Scarlet and looked down at her in panic as he touched her cheek. "Scar…" he pulled his hand away and saw blood on her face where his hand was.

He stared at her face in horror as he reached out to wipe away the blood on her cheek and saw his hand was covered in blood. He looked back at Scarlet and then where his hand had been, the bed was soaked in blood. He grabbed Scarlet and shook her trying to wake her. "SCARLET!"

She moaned as her eyes fluttered open. Boone looked down at her chest and saw a bullet wound. He shook his head as she sat up. "Why would you shoot me Boone? I thought you loved me?"

Boone started to reach for her and felt a rifle in his hands. He looked down and saw his sniper rifle was smoking. "I didn't…" He looked back up and saw Scarlet was fading in front of him. "No..No SCARLET!"

Boone suddenly opened his eyes and blinked as darkness pressed close around him. He was laying in a bed covered in cold sweat. He slowly sat up and tried to make sense of the darkness around him.

He closed his eyes when his head exploded with what felt like a bad hangover. He took a few deep breaths to calm his stomach and slowly opened his eyes again. He heard movement then a light slowly flickered to life as some one lit a lamp.

Boone saw he was in a small room with old prewar furniture surrounding him. He looked towards the lamp and saw a woman with short dark red hair was sitting in an arm chair watching him. "Good to see you awake." She said in an unfamiliar accent. She got up and walked towards Boone as she pulled a water bottle out of a dresser and handed it to him. "This should help with the headache."

Boone took it and opened the bottle slowly as he smelled the bottle for poison then took a drink. He felt cool air on his bare chest and looked down to see he was only wearing pants. "Where is my stuff?"

The woman sat in the armchair and motioned to a corner. "Everything is there, we repaired your armor and some of your weapons."

Boone looked at the corner and saw his stuff neatly piled and folded. "And my eyebot?"

The woman laughed. "He's with Codsworth. That little bot went crazy when you passed out, thankfully Curie was able to calm him down."

Boone looked around and saw the building was old, probably prewar house of some kind. He felt his a slight twinge of pain in his stomach as he placed the water on the floor. He looked at his stomach and saw he was blessed with a new scar. He looked back at the woman and squinted in the dim light. He slowly recognized her as his mind slowly cleared. Her name was Cait if his memory was right.

Boone took a deep breath and stood up slowly. His body felt like he had been mauled by a deathclaw. Boone stumbled as he took a step towards his stuff in the corner. Boone put his hands to his head when everything started spinning and sat on the bed. "What did you do to me?"

Cait took a deep breath and looked down at a pile of bloody rags and used chems. "We had to remove the bullet since it had radscorpion blood on it, you were poisoned and it took quite a few chems to keep you breathing."

Boone felt the scar and shook his head as more of his memory of what had happened surfaced in his mind. "How long have I been out?"

Cait stood up and walked to the corner talking as she grabbed Boones clothes. "All day, ya kept muttering as the fever spiked." She paused for a moment as she held his clothes out to him. "Is Scarlet your wife?"

Boone took his clothes and nodded. "I need to find her, she's been shot and…" Boone shook his head not wanting to think about what she might be going through or the nightmare he just had.

Cait walked back to the recliner and sat. "Are you sure she was taken to the institute?"

Boone nodded as he slowly got dressed. "Yeah, some ass named Shaun brought us to Boston, said he had found a way to help cure ghouls." He shook his head as he remembered the way Shaun had laughed when he had grabbed Scarlet.

Cait took a deep breath and sat forward, she looked directly at Boon and spoke in a dark tone of voice. "Are you sure his name was Shaun?"

Boone paused as he looked Cait, her change in attitude told him this Shaun and his institute were bad news. "Yeah, he plugged a thing into Scarlet's pip boy then he grabbed her and they just.."

"Vanished?" She asked as she sat back and glared at Boone.

Boone nodded. "I'm guessing you know Shaun?"

Cait turned her head and glared at a crib in the corner. "Yeah, we know about him, never met him in person though." She shook her head and grabbed a bottle that was on the floor next to her. She put the bottle to her lips and took a long drink of the amber looking liquid inside. She started to set the bottle down but stopped. She looked up at Boone and held out the bottle to him. "You want a hit of this? Whiskey helps calm the nerves."

Boone looked at the bottle and shook his head. "I don't drink." He then took another drink of the water she had given him earlier. "Who is Shaun? Why would he want my wife?"

Cait took a deep breath then took another long drink from the bottle. "He was the director of the institute, they would kidnap people and make robotic clones of them. What they did to the missing people no one really knows for sure." Cait took a deep breath, "An old friend Named Nora was the one who told us everything. She had left to go find her son, She was a vault dweller and…" Cait closed her eyes as her voice cracked. "She had helped so many people trying to find him. Nora said she was frozen in that vault with her son and husband when the bombs fell." Cait crossed her arms and glared again at the crib. "Said her husband was shot and her baby was kidnapped from his arms, said that the people that had done it froze her before she could do anything." Cait let out a sigh as she took another drink. "She helped so many people, she helped me quit drinking and using chems. She eventually found out it was the institute that had taken her baby and she stopped at nothing to find a way into that place…" Cait shook her head. "I'll never forget the way her eyes looked when she came back. They were hollow and you could tell her spirit was broken, we later found out she had found her son, he was no longer a wee baby, but a grown man."

Boone looked at Cait trying to wrap his mind around what she had told him. How this Nora woman must have felt seeing her child was a full grown man. To not only see the child she lost, but probably the husband she had lost as well.

Cait shook her head. "At the time we didn't know what had happened. She had been helping the brotherhood and the underground railroad...we never expected her to do what she did."

Boone watched as she took another drink finishing off the bottle. "She single handedly destroyed the brotherhood and made damn sure everyone in the railroad was dead. She went back to that institute and no one saw her for months. Then one day she just reappears here in Sanctuary hills with a child. She spoke to Preston and just left, vanishing into thin air leaving the child behind. I learned from Preston the child was a synth version of her son, she had left him and would be back for him when it was safe for him. Its been years since anyone has seen her since then."

Boone sat and thought about everything. He looked at Cait and shook his head. "I don't mean to be rude, but what does any of this have to do with my wife?"

Cait let out a dry laugh. "If what you say is true, then we have an even bigger problem on our hands. According to what she told Preston, her real son died."

Boone still didn't understand he shook his head and attempted standing up again. This time his legs didn't shake and his head felt a bit clearer. "I don't care about this Nora person or whatever a synth is. I'm getting my things and I'm going to find my wife." He headed to the corner and started putting on his armor.

Cait crossed her arms. "Your not leaving this place."

Boone stopped with one arm in his trench coat. He turned looked at Cait. "I will leave when I want to leave."

Cait shook her head. "It's dark and its suicide to travel in the dark, Deathclaws hunt at night. The commonwealth is all so big place to get lost in if ya don't know your way around."

Boone finished putting his coat on. "I'll figure my way around. Deathclaws are not an issue, my wife and I used to hunt them back in New Vegas."

Cait blinked as she looked at Boone surprised. "Your from New Vegas?"

Boone nodded with out speaking.

Cait softened her voice and spoke in a calm voice. "You are a long way from home." Cait got up and walked towards Boone and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look…Boone? Preston and a few others have decided to help, we are going to take you to Diamond city to talk with a friend who might know a way into the institute. Just rest here and well leave out in the morning."

Boone paused as he held his Ranger helmet. He looked at it then took a deep breath. "I'll wait then."

Cait smiled then let go of his shoulder. "Just rest here, there is food in the kitchen and the bed is all yours. No one uses this place since Nora left." Cait gave Boone a smile then turned to leave. She stopped in the doorway then looked back at Boone. "You should care about Nora, Her son's name was Shaun." She then turned and walked out the door leaving Boone standing with his helmet in hand.

Boone took a deep breath and put the helmet down. He walked back to the bed and laid on his back. Sleep was something he dreaded. Boone closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

Boone jerked awake when a sudden knock startled him. He looked around and saw daylight was shining through the window across from the bed. He blinked as he sat up as another louder knock came from somewhere in the house. Boone stood up and slowly walked towards the knocking. He opened the door and saw a petit young woman with short brown hair smiling at him. "Good morning, I see that you have healed quite well yes?" She smiled as she pointed at Boons stomach.

Boone nodded his head and spoke in a low sad voice. "Yeah…I'm better, does this mean its time to head out?"

The woman shook her head and smiled innocently. "Not quite yet, Cait sent me to let you know breakfast is ready at the fire pit." She smiled again as she looked at Boones face. "My name is Curie, I was the one that dug that bullet out of your stomach, I hope I didn't leave too bad of a scar. You had used a stimpack and it was making your skin heal over the bullet."

Boone shook his head "I'm fine, thank you for ah… doing that." He didn't know what to do or say so he awkwardly held out a hand. Curie looked at it and she grabbed it with her wrong hand and shook his like how a child would have. "Its nothing! See you at the fire pit!" She let go and walked away from Boone giggling.

Boone shook his head and walked back to his belongings. He packed his stuff and grabbed his helmet. He looked over his guns and saw they all had been repaired. Boone looked down at his armor and noticed it was slightly different also. It looked repaired but felt lighter. Boone bounced his helmet in his hand a few times and felt it was lighter too.

Boone did another check to make sure he had all his things and left the house.

He looked around and saw smoke was rising from behind another house not far from where he was.

When Boone rounded the corner he saw a group of people were sitting around a fire. They were all talking and some looked like they were packed and ready for traveling. As he approached everyone looked up at him then back at the food in their hands. Boone walked passed a few kids playing and found an empty spot to sit. He saw some one approach him and knew from the deep red hair it was Cait. "Good to see you made it, here's some food. Eat up cause were heading out as soon as everyone is done." She handed Boone a bowl and sat next to him eating from a bowl in her other hand.

Boone looked in the bowl and saw it had some kind of meat and vegetables in a brown broth. Boone took a bite and was surprised the food tasted good.

Boone looked up as he ate what was in his bowl. Looking around he saw Preston and that young teen Shaun. Boone looked at the teen for a moment and saw he almost looked like the Shaun that had conned them into coming to this damn place. Boone looked next to Shaun and saw a man with a scar down one side of his face and a scruffy beard staring at him. Boone saw he wore dog tags over a dark colored shirt and wondered if he was a soldier. Boone had given Scarlet his dog tags to wear. Boone kept eating as he saw Preston look at him. "I see your up and about, hope you slept well?"

Boone nodded as he finished the food in the bowl. "Slept well enough. How far is this Diamond city Cait spoke of."

Preston laughed as he shook his head, "Not far, about a days walk. You have everything you need?" He asked as he got up and took Boones empty bowl and took it to a tub of water next to the fire and dropped them in. He went back to his spot and sat.

Boone nodded. "I'm good on supplies, Who fixed my armor and weapons?"

Preston nodded at a man sitting across the fire tinkering with things. "That would be Sturgis, he's our weapon and armor expert, he also does most of the maintenance work around the settlement."

Boone saw him look up when Preston said his name. He glanced at Boone and smiled. "How's your armor feel? Did everything fit together well?"

Boone nodded his head. "Yeah its ok, why does it feel lighter?"

The man smiled. "That's my quality work, added a ballistics weave to the fabric and reworked the metal with Nano fibers. Stronger then metal and lighter then plastic."

Boone hardly understood what he was saying and just nodded his head. "Yeah ok, thanks for fixing it."

Boone looked around and saw some kids were now running around chasing each other. Boone had to lean back as they ran past him. One small kid that was at the back of the group tripped and fell in front of him. Boone reached out and helped the kid stand up and saw she was about to cry. Boone looked at her and shook his head. "Don't cry, learn to hold it in because if you get hurt out in the wasteland crying will only blur your vision and give away your position. Hold it in and let the pain make you tougher." The little kid nodded and took a deep breath. She smiled at Boone then took off to continue chasing the others. He watched them for a moment and he realized how peaceful this place appeared to be. He then looked back at Preston and nodded at the pot of food on the fire. "Thanks for the food, it was good. And thanks for the helping me with my injuries."

Preston shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "No problem, you helped us when the radscorpions attacked. It was dark and we were in complete chaos. More people would have been injured or worse if it wasn't for what you did." Preston Smiled as he Nodded at the man with the scar and scruffy beard. "Its him you got to thank for the grub. Surprised us all when we found out he could cook. Danse here knows a thing or two about making inedible food edible."

The man rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Just some stuff I learned while in the Brotherhood."

Boone looked at Danse. His hair was scruffy and he had a rugged beard sprouting from his face. He had a long scar from an old wound across one side of his face. "You were in the Brotherhood? Didn't know they were this far east."

Danse shook his head as he picked up a stick and poked at the fire. "I'm no longer apart of the Brotherhood. My whole chapter was burned to the ground not long after Elder Maxson banished me."

Boone took another bite and stared at the fire as sparks flew up from where it was being poked. "I'm sorry, I understand how it feels to leave something behind that you once believed in."

Danse glanced at Boone. "Like the NCR?"

Boone sat quietly as he nodded his head.

Preston looked at Boone then at Danse. "NCR?"

Boone looked up at Preston and took a deep breath. "New California republic. It's a group out west that patrols the deserts trying to keep peace and order."

Preston looked at Danse. "Is there any brotherhood chapters out in that direction?"

Danse shook his head. "I've read the history holotapes about one that had broken off and started a new chapter with an exhaled elder. According to the reports it was wiped out somehow, the details were hard to understand since the reports varied from those who made it out of the Mohave alive."

Boone kept quiet as his memories went back to that day long ago. Scarlet was dead set on ridding the Mohave of the Brotherhood for the NCR. She said that if things were ever going to be truly peaceful then the brotherhood would need to leave or be forced to leave. He had followed her into the bunker where the brotherhood was hiding and stood quiet as she tried to talk peace to them.

They would have none of it. They both almost didn't make it. Took a lot of heavy weapons and explosives to destroy what was left of the Brotherhood in that bunker.

Boone heard loud snapping and looked up to see a log had split in two. Danse was sitting across from the fire staring at Boone. He then nodded in Boones direction as he continued to poke at the fire. "If I can recall that's NCR ranger gear, are you an NCR soldier?"

Boone shook his head. "No I quit long ago after some bad things happened, I was a sniper and I was ordered to kill innocent people."

Danse nodded his head. "Once a soldier always a soldier, could tell by the way you talk. I was a Paladin until it was discovered that I'm a synth."

Boone looked at Cait then back at Danse. "What is a synth?"

Danse took a deep breath. "Synths are people who have been made artificially. So far it is known to only be three generations of synths. Gen one is the most machine like. Completely functioning on programmed commands. Gen two is machines that have the ability to think and act independently, but look more machine then human and gen threes are completely human in appearance and have bio ware instead of hardware. Some parts are still machine but gen three is the most hard to distinguish from a natural born human." Danse glared at the fire as he shook his head. "I'm a gen three."

Boone looked at Danse and thought about what he had said. Machines that were human? He wouldn't of believed it but here was this man in front of him. Boone thought of scarlet and about what she said happened to her at the Big Mt, or Big MIT as Shaun kept calling it. "What if someone just has parts that are machine but was born human?"

Danse shook his head. "Its never been herd of or done as far as I know. No one in their right mind would willingly let anything remotely synth near them."

Boone placed his bowl of food on the ground as he started to understand more about why Shaun wanted his wife. "My wife had been experimented on years ago. She had her heart, lungs and brain removed and replaced with robotic parts. She was able to get her brain back but had chose to keep the robotic heart and spine."

Everyone looked at Boone in a dead silence. It was Shaun that broke the silence as he sat next to Danse. "There is no known way to replace human parts with robotic ones. Every experiment failed that had been tried in the institute, that's why Father had that research shut down and forbid any further study into the matter." He then looked at the bowl of food in his hands and took a bite.

Preston took a deep breath and shook his head. "If synths could be made to be more human then that would be good and bad news. Shaun, A synth version of… well, older you was the one that kidnapped his wife. If he's back what could happen to Nora?"

Shaun shook his head. "I'm not sure, with it being a synth of father anything is possible I guess." Shaun looked at Boone. "And if what happened to your wife is true, it could mean a whole new era for synths. With the data that your wife may hold we could be looking at a new generation of full human synths." Shaun finished his last bite and placed his bowl in a bin.

Preston stood up and let out a shrill whistle. Boone could hear an excited series of beeps as Ed-e flew out of a house and zoomed towards Boone.

Boone laughed as the bot excitedly bobbed and bounced around him. "I'm ok ED-E, takes more then that to kill me."

Ed-E let out a happy whistle and an odd whirring of gears as he let out a series of beeps.

Boone shook his head and was about to remind the little bot he couldn't understand him when a Mr. Handy floated over and waved an arm at Ed-E "That is very foul language young man!"

Boone blinked then looked up at Ed-E "What did he say?"

The Mr. handy turned to face Boone "Ah you must be Mr. Boone, or as he likes to call you... "

Ed-e let out a shrill high pitch whistle. "Ah, I see, he has no other name for you." The Mr. handy let out a series of beeps and whistles as he turned one of his eye sensors to face Ed-E. He then spoke in his normal voice. "He is happy to see you and is eager to find his friend he calls Scarlet."

Boone nodded his head as Preston started gathering things. "I guess its time to load up and head to Diamond city then." Boone grabbed his pack and slung it across his back as Danse and Shaun picked up travel packs as well.

Boone looked at everyone as he lowered his helmet over his head. "Is the whole settlement going too?"

Preston shook his head, "No, I need to head back to the castle to check on things, ill part ways when we get to Diamond city. You, Danse and Shaun will be going into Diamond city to meet up with a very old friend."

Boone Glanced at Cait and Curie "Thank you for healing my wounds." They both nodded and smiled then walked away.

Boone turned back to the others and saw they were traveling. Boone motioned for Ed-e and followed them.

(((Institute)))

Nora sat as the Synth Shaun grinned at her. He sat on the bed and placed his hands in his lap. "I gather they made you the new head director?"

Nora glared at the synth. "Why did Shaun create you?"

Shaun laughed as he kept his gaze on Nora. "I was created when a signal was received from Nevada. An old facility that had been long forgotten about was sending signals of a successful experiment in it's human robotics division. Shaun wanted that information but he couldn't leave this place. He built me with his own hands to go and find the source of the signal. What I found at that place was astounding. A woman had her heart, spine and brain replaced with robotic parts. Something we have never been able to successfully accomplish here. I spoke with the scientists and found that they were medical marvels themselves. Human brains preserved but functioning in a robotic body. I isolated one and dissected it to learn how it works. All the information is recorded here." Shaun tapped his head as he smiled at Nora.

"Let me out of here to work by your side and together we will make a better mankind, one that will survive and move forward." He stood up and held his hand out.

Nora shook her head. "What you want is a race of people you can enslave and command. I have changed the way synths are created, They are no longer made to replace people, but help cure and heal people. I have hundreds of synths ready to be sent above and spread out to find settlements in the wasteland from here to California. They have all been equipped with extensive medical knowledge and reasoning skills. They all have independent programing that will allow them to learn and grow into individual synths that can chose to help or not, they don't take commands and live how they want."

Shaun burst into hysterical laughter. "And the board of directors let you do this?"

Nora nodded. "After I replaced them all with new directors that shared my same visions of the future." She then stood up and looked at the floor. "What plans did you have for that woman you brought here?"

Shaun stopped laughing. He grinned as he kept his eyes on Nora. "I was going to sedate her and explore how she had been experimented on. I have the data and the information on how it was done, but I want to see it with my eyes, I want to learn how she has been able to function the way she has."

Nora shook her head. "In other words you were going to kill her just to research her."

Shaun nodded as he closed his eyes. "I cant wait until I can get my hands on her. How is the baby? Was going to see if it was genetics or will power that kept that woman alive through so much."

Nora blinked. "You knew she was pregnant and you still want to kill her and experiment on the baby!"

Shaun shrugged his shoulders. "When I hired her she was far from pregnant, I noticed the signs as we traveled across the us. She should just now start showing."

Nora shook her head. "Your not touching her, or her babies…"

"Babies! Ha, that's good news.."

Nora pressed a button on her pip-boy "Send the synth destruction team to my quarters."

Shaun laughed as he shook his head. "Should of just left me on stand by, Now that I'm back, your services as acting director is no longer needed. As of right now I take back my positon and role of Father."

A chime sounded as the door to the room Shaun was in slid open. "Welcome back Father, we will start the process of switching everything back to you." Nora shook her head as she puled out a small handgun.

Shaun shook his head. "No need for that, I will make sure your safe. When security gets here you will be sedated and taken back to that vault. You will be placed back in the cryo chamber and frozen until you are needed again, and since I'm a synth it will be a very long time until you will be needed again…Mother." The doors slid open behind Nora and she heard movement behind her. "Please be gentle with her, she's very important to us." Nora turned and saw it was a group of security synths with guns pointed at her. She shot at the one blocking the door and it fell as sparks shot out of a hole in its head. Nora ran as the other synths shot at her and tried to grab her clothes. Nora ran out of reach and heard Shaun laughing behind her.

She ran and saw synth security was pushing everyone at gun point back into their homes. Some were trying to fight back as screaming and gun fire echoed around her. Nora knew she couldn't leave the pregnant woman here and ran for the med bay. She ran into the medical director as the doors slid open. "What's going on!" she asked in a terrified voice."

Nora kept running as the woman fallowed her. "Shaun's synth took everything back over, I'm no longer the head director…" Nora stopped when she saw Scarlet's bed was empty. "Where is she?"

The woman pointed towards the guest dwellings. "She was taken to her room not long ago, are you leaving?"

Nora nodded as she grabbed a med bag and started shoving every med supply she could find into it. The woman unlocked a cabinet and handed Nora a handful of stimpacks. "Be carful, I'll pretend to be on his side. Nora, you will have others backing you up silently." She gave Nora a hug as the sound of synths running towards the med bay echoed from the hallway. Nora grabbed the bag and ran to the guest living quarters.

She ran and pressed a button on a door and it slid open. Scarlet was standing with a vase in hand. She saw Nora and relaxed a little. "What is going on?"

Nora shook her head as she ran to a dresser next to scarlet and grabbed her equipment and pip-boy shoving it all into Scarlet's arms. She was still wearing her gown from the med bay. "We need to leave, Shaun has taken back over, Ill explain later." Nora wrapped her arms around Scarlet and pressed a button on her pip-boy as a group of synths burst into the room behind her. Nora heard lasers fire as she closed her eyes and the room disappeared in a flash of light.

Nora felt solid ground under her feet as she blinked and let go of scarlet. "Were safe now," Nora gripped her pip-boy and pulled out a small chip. She then took scarlet's pip-boy and removed the chip Shaun had placed in it. "They wont be able to track us now."

Scarlet took a few steps back from Nora and looked around. She was in a room with junk and boxes scattered about. The walls were brick and there were no windows. "Where are we?" She asked as Nora walked to a pile of boxes and pushed them away revealing a trunk under it all.

Nora opened it and smiled. "Were in Goodneighbor, I have an old friend here that will help us." Nora pulled out some clothes, some weapons and another bag.

Scarlet started to put on her NCR ranger armor when Nora handed her a dark fabric and a rifle. "Put this on over our armor and hide the gun."

Scarlet took the gun and unfolded the fabric and saw it was a simple cloak. She put it on over her armor and secured the rifle under her duster.

Nora put on her cloak and grabbed her bags. She put the hood up over her head and motioned for Scarlet to do the same. "Your hair is very unique, you need to recolor it or keep it hidden so you wont be so easily recognized."

Scarlet pulled the hood up and followed Nora as she walked down some steps. When she opened the door the cool night air felt wonderful on her face. Nora kept walking and kept her head low. Scarlet saw there were other people walking around with heads held low also. Some of them were ghouls and others looked like they have been through a rough life. Scarlet fallowed Nora to a door with a sign that said Third rail above it.

Both women walked in and saw a tall ghoul standing with a tuxedo next to a stairway. Nora nodded at him and walked down the steps with Scarlet close behind her. She heard a woman singing as glass cups were clinked together. She saw a Mr. Handy at the bar and several people were spread out sitting on couches or chairs. Scarlet watched as Nora approached a ghoul wearing a red coat and a weird looking hat. She leaned in close and Scarlet could barely hear as she spoke in a quiet voice. "Hello Hancock."

The ghoul was about to take a drink from a bottle but stopped mid air and some of what was in the bottle spilled as his whole body went stiff. He slowly turned his head and glared at Nora. His bottle made a loud clank as he slammed it down. "The fuck are you doing here?"

Nora shook her head as she looked at the ghoul. "Shaun's back and he took over the institute, everything I've done and work for is gone, I need a place to hide until I can figure a way back in with more firepower to take back the institute."

He shook his head and turned back to the bottle in his hand. "No. Not after you abandoned everyone and just left us to fend for ourselves, get the fuck out."

Nora took a deep breath and pointed at Scarlet. "Then let her stay at least, she's pregnant and…"

The ghoul stood up and aimed a gun at Nora's face "I said NO, I don't care if she's dying! I don't want anything to do with you or your institute! We were going to be married and you just abandoned me!"

Nora backed up as she held her hands up. "I'm sorry John, I couldn't comeback until I was done. What was only meant to be a week turned into another then another, I never meant to abandon you, I'm sorry."

The ghoul cocked the gun in his hands and kept it aimed at Nora. She closed her eyes then opened them. She had tears running down her cheeks as she turned away from the gun in her face. "Lets go Scarlet," She grabbed Scarlet's arm and pulled her out of the third rail.

Scarlet saw she walked with her shoulders hunched and she stared at the ground as they walked. "Are you ok?"

Nora nodded as she led Scarlet to a door in the wall. "Yeah, I'm ok. We were going to get married before I left for the institute. I didn't know so much time had gone by."

Scarlet placed a hand on her shoulder. "Time is a bitch."

Nora let out a dry laugh as she opened the door leading out of Goodneighbor.

Scarlet let go of Nora as they walked through. "Where to next?"

Nora shook her head as they walked into the dark night. "I don't know, I'm no longer sure who I can trust anymore if I cant trust Hancock."


	4. Encounters

(((Third rail)))

An armor clad woman sat next to the ghoul with the red coat and funny hat. Half of her auburn hair was swept to one side and the other half was shaved off. Her eyes were a soft blue but her gaze was fierce and protective of the ghoul she focused her eyes on. She shook her head at the bottles that were piled high in front of him. "I heard Nora came back." She said as she sat on the empty bar stool next to him.

He nodded his head as he slammed another shot of whisky. "She came to me asking for help, I screwed up Fahr, I let my anger get the best of me. I should have helped her." He lowered his head as while hand shook as he poured another shot spilling some whisky on the bar.

Fahrenheit nodded her head as she took the shot of whisky before his scarred hand could close around it. "Do you still care about her?" She asked before downing the shot in one drink, letting out a sigh of air that burned her nose and throat.

Hancock turned the whiskey bottle in his hand as he stared at it, his eyes blurring as he spoke softly. "I still love her."

Fahrenheit took the bottle from his hands and took a long drink from it then nodded at the ground. "Was she hurt before she got here or was that your doing?"

Hancock shook his head and looked at the heavily armored woman next to him with a confused look on his face. "I threatened to kill her, but I would never hurt her."

Fahrenheit put the bottle to her lips and took another long drink. She looked at Hancock and shook her head as she pointed at the ground with the bottle "Someone hurt her and she's bleeding out slowly, should have helped her when you had the chance John, you were probably the only person she felt she could trust, probably the first person she came to." Fahrenheit handed the bottle back to Hancock.

Hancock slowly took the bottle as he looked down and saw blood drops on the ground where Nora had stood. He followed the blood trail with his eyes and saw they lead to the stairs.

Fuck. He should have helped her.

Hancock slammed the bottle of whisky on to the counter and it shattered into pieces. "Fuck! put it on my tab Charlie." He stood up and wobbled a bit as he looked at Fahrenheit. "I'll be back. Take care of things will ya?"

Fahrenheit smiled as she nodded her head. "Don't I always John?"

Hancock started to turn away but the muscled bodyguard grabbed his arm. "Don't get killed out there. I don't like running this place when your gone and I don't want it to be permanent. I only do it because you pay me to do so, and your one hell of a boss."

Hancock grinned. "Your getting soft in your old age Fahr, think that's the first nice thing I've ever heard you say, Do you want a hug and kiss goodbye too?"

The woman rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Get the fuck out of here and make sure you wrap your damn hand, its getting blood everywhere dumbass."

Hancock laughed as he looked at his hand and saw it was bleeding. He saw a piece of glass buried in the side of it. He pulled the chunk of glass out and dropped it on the floor. He pulled a stimpack from his coat and pushed the needle into his hand, smiling when he heard it hiss. "That's the Fahrenheit I'm used to. See ya around." Hancock turned and followed the blood out of the third rail as he wrapped a cloth around his hand. He followed it all the way to the gates of GoodNeighbor and saw it stopped not far on the other side. Hancock looked around and squinted his eyes in the bright morning sun. He growled as he looked around trying to guess where Nora might go next.

He looked towards Diamond city and nodded. Nick was there and if Nora needed help she might of went there.

((Boone))

Boone followed the other men silently as Ed-e hovered close to Shaun. For the most part Shaun and Danse talked about guns and how to use them. Boone and Preston had stayed quiet as they walked on.

Boone almost bumped into Preston when he suddenly stopped. "This is where I go on my way boys. Been great traveling with you guys. Danse, I trust you can get them the rest of the way to Diamond city safely?"

Danse nodded his head. "You know I will, always have before."

Preston smiled as he nodded at Boone. "I hope you find your wife and that everything turns out ok for you Craig."

Boone nodded back "As do I General."

Boone turned and followed Danse and Shaun as they continued to walk towards Diamond city.

They had been walking for a bit before Danse glanced back at Boone and spoke as he kept walking. "How long were you apart of the NCR?"

Boone still was unsure about Danse. The man appeared to be friendly but he had seen him staring at him several times. Like he was trying to figure something out. "I was apart of the NCR most of my life. I spent most my service with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, we were the ones they called in for jobs that needed marksmen precision."

Danse stopped walking for a moment and turned to Boone. "Why did you quit then?"

Boone took a deep breath and lowered his head. "It was because of what happened on the last mission I ever did with my unit. Too many fucked up things that shouldn't of happened. Known as the massacre of bitter springs, I was discharged a few months after what had happened." Boone took a few steps but Danse stood facing Boone.

He crossed his arms as he glared at Boone. "What happened?"

Boone looked at Danse through the dusted glass of his NCR helmet. He wasn't sure if this was Danse showing hostility or if he just really wanted to know what happened. "We were told a hostile group of people were camped out there. That it was to be the most dangerous of them." Boone shook his head. "It was only young children, old people and women. The most dangerous ones there were the teenage boys trying to protect their mothers."

Boone continued to walk even if Danse wasn't going to move.

Danse turned and kept pace in front of Boone. Ed-e was hovering around Shaun making him laugh as he bobbed around the boys head.

Danse shook his head. "Sorry if I was out of line with my questions."

Boone shrugged his shoulders. "It was the past. I tried to have my spotter radio in what I saw and things got messed up. I just don't like to talk about it is all."

Danse took a deep breath. "Understandable, as soldiers we all have to follow orders even if we don't agree with them." Danse kept walking and kept quiet as they rounded the corner of a building.

Boone looked ahead and saw a huge yellow wall as they rounded a corner. There was a crudely painted sign pointing at the wall that said "Diamond city" Boone took a step and heard a bullet whiz by his head. He immediately grabbed his gun and turned to face the direction the bullet had come from. He heard a yell and another bullet whizzed by.

Boone looked up at a balcony above him and saw a super mutant standing on a balcony. He had a gun pointed at him and was firing without looking down the scope. Boone aimed his gun as more super mutants started yelling inside the building as they appeared in the doorways and on the roof. Boone barely looked through his scope as he pulled the trigger on his rifle. The Mutant that had been shooting at him jerked his head back as dark blood splattered the wall behind him when Boone pulled the trigger.

He heard Danse yell at Shaun to run to Diamond city as his gun fired a few rounds. Boone sighted another green mutant and heard Shaun yell out behind him. Boone turned and saw a mutant was standing in front of Shaun. Ed-e was flitting around beeping as his weapons fired up. Boone whistled and pointed at the boy when Ed-e turned to face him. "Keep the boy safe Ed-e!" He saw the little eye bot fly off and heard his lasers fire as Shaun backed away from the super mutant. Ed-e fired his lasers into the super mutants eyes and saw the super mutant try to swipe at Ed-e as he screamed with rage and covered his eyes with one hand.

Boone felt something slam into his back knocking him forward. Boone stumbled and turned to see a mutant was swinging a sledge hammer at him. Boone pulled out a small hand gun and fired it rapidly at the mutants head. With a howl of rage the mutant backed up and fell to the ground.

Boone pulled his rifle back out and aimed at the mutants on the roof. He fired his gun twice and two mutants fell to the ground. Everything went quiet as Boone looked at Danse and saw he was putting his gun away. Shaun was no where to be seen and he hoped Ed-e was with him.

Boone took a step towards Danse and heard a super mutant scream from somewhere within the abandoned building the other mutants had came out of. "I WILL KILL ALL HUMANS!"

He then heard a steady beep beep beep that got faster.

Boone glanced at Danse and saw his eyes were wide. He pointed at the yellow wall and shouted at Boone. "It's a suicider, I'm out of ammo! RUN!"

Boone watched him run towards the yellow wall like a thousand Deathclaws were at his heels. Boone turned to face the mutant with the beeping noises coming from it. He saw it was running towards him with something flashing in his hands. Boone lifted his rifle and aimed for the thing in the abominations hands. Boone pulled his trigger and yelled in surprise as he was knocked back by a massive blast. He felt his head bounce off something and was knocked out cold.

((John Hancock))

Hancock walked to Diamond city and thought about the last time he had held Nora. She was crying and distraught as he held her close. She had just told him about everything that had happened. About how she destroyed the brotherhood, what happened with the rail road. He held her as she explained about her son, how he had died of cancer as an old man. She then told Hancock she was the new director of the institute and had plans of making it a better place for all of the commonwealth. They were engaged and the wedding was just weeks away. Nora said it would only be a few weeks and then she would be back for the wedding and would live with him in GoodNeighbor. The two weeks went by and he waited for her, but she never appeared. The day of their weeding came and she never appeared. He waited as the weeks turned to months, then years.

Heartbroken and angry, he had long ago taken that ring off and vowed to shot her if she ever came back.

Hancock sighed as he looked up at the yellow Diamond city gates. He pressed the button and Pipers voice greeted him. "Welcome to diamond city, what business do you have?"

Hancock shook his head. "Why the fuck should I tell you Piper?"

Hancock heard the gate moan as it started to open. He stepped forward and was greeted by a dark haired woman wearing a business suit. Her hair was much longer then he remembered and saw the wear of age was etched on her face. She wrapped her arms around him and embraced him tightly. "God! Its good to see you John!"

Hancock gave her a quick squeeze and stepped back. "Good to see you too Pipes, did Nora come here?"

Piper shook her head and gave Hancock a puzzled look. "No, you're the first person here since the gate was closed for the night. Is Blue back?"

Hancock looked down as he pulled out a cigar and lit it with a gold lighter. "Yeah, she came to GoodNeighbor for help and I fucked up."

Piper shook her head as she took a deep breath. "Cant tell me your still upset over what happened years ago?"

Hancock shrugged his shoulders. "She caught me at a bad time and I might have acted like an ass."

Piper shook her head as she put her hand on her forehead. "Jez Hancock! Do you know where she might of gone?"

He shook his head, " This place was my first guess. Thought maybe she might of went to Nick for help. Speaking of the old toaster, Is Nick in? I figure he might know a way to find her."

Piper sighed and grabbed Hancock's hand. "Come on Jackass, lets find blue."

Gunshots made Piper and Hancock pause. They both looked back to see a young boy start to run towards them when a super mutant stepped out from a building and blocked his path. Hancock pulled out his shotgun and ran with it in his hand. He stopped suddenly when a small floating bot appeared and shot the Mutant in the head several times. The mutant stumbled back as he swung a massive hand at the little bot flying around his head. The bot fired one more shot and the mutant fell as his head exploded. Hancock saw the boy scramble to get up and run towards Hancock. He almost fell again when he finally looked ahead and saw Hancock.

Hancock motioned for the kid to come and the little bot pushed the boy from behind. He ran hard and fast and kept running as he passed Hancock. Hancock started to take a step towards the gunshots and saw Danse running full speed at him. "Suicide Mutant! Run!" Hancock smiled as he pulled out a small hand gun. He loved shooting suiciders. He ran forward as Danse ran past him. He laughed as he saw the Suicider emerge from the empty building. He aimed his gun and saw a tall dark figure had a large rifle aimed at the mutant. Hancock shook his head as he tried to yell at the dark figure. "Too fucking close…" The mutant suddenly exploded when the man in the trench coat fired his gun. Hancock covered his eyes with his arm as the fat man exploded with a bright light.

He lowered his arm and saw the figure that was wearing the trench coat was lying on the ground. "Fucking idiot!" He yelled as he ran to see if the dumbass was still alive.

He looked down and saw he was still breathing. He was wearing full armor and appeared to be unhurt but very much out of it. Hancock heard heavy footsteps run to him and heard Danse's voice. "He alive?"

Hancock nodded his head. "Yeah, he's breathing." Hancock turned to Danse "The fuck happened Danse?"

Danse shook his head as he stood at the feet of the trench coat man. "It was a mutant ambush."

Hancock turned back to the figure on the ground. He knelt down and shook the guy. "Hey, wake up dumbass!"

The man let out a moan and the eyes on his helmet flickered with red lights then went back out. One of the eyes had a crack running through it.

"You know him Danse?" Hancock asked as he shook the man again.

"Yeah, his name is Craig Boone and we were helping him to diamond city. Said he lost his wife and we were taking him to Nick." Danse knelt down and let out a sigh. "Will you help me get him to Nick's place? I promised Preston I would get him there."

Hancock laughed. "I was already headed to Nicks anyway." He put his hands under the man's shoulders and helped Danse drag him into Diamond city.

((Scarlet))

Scarlet had seen Nora was slowly bleeding before they got to far from GoodNeighbor. She had applied a compress to stop the bleeding as they quietly made there way through the streets and deserted buildings. Nora shook her head as Scarlet applied pressure on the wound. It was on Nora's back and looked serious. "I know of one more place close by that might help. I just didn't want to risk exposing them before it was time."

Scarlet looked at Nora. "Your hurt and we both need a place to hide. Where is this place?"

Nora took a deep breath and motioned for Scarlet to fallow her. Scarlet kept close to Nora as they snuck quietly around the abandoned cars and empty streets. Scarlet had seen buildings before but none as big and massive as the ghosts of the ones they were passing now. It was like man made canyons and cliffs. No where near as beautiful as Zion but just as mind-blowing.

Scarlet kept an eye on Nora as they traveled. Her wound was deep and it needed treatment. They had no stimpacks of any kind. Scarlet had to rip a piece of cloth and crush some broc flowers and Xander roots from her emergency pouch. It helped to stop the bleeding but there was still internal damage.

Nora suddenly held a hand up. Scarlet paused as Nora looked around. "This is it. I hope they are still here."

Nora flipped open a sewer grate and climbed down into the darkness. Scarlet fallowed her and saw they were in a tunnel. She saw several colored lights on the walls and heard the steady drips of water. Nora walked on fallowing the lights that were red. The lights ran on for quite a bit and winded them into narrow tunnels and large open crevasses. Nora stopped at a wall with a gold circle on it. Scarlet watched as Nora touched it with her hands.

She let out a sigh and shook her head. "They could of at least changed the password." Nora started turning the rings of the thing and would press a center button with each stop of the disks, a loud click echoing down the sewer each time. Scarlet heard a final loud click and a door swung open.

Scarlet stayed behind Nora as they walked into the darkness beyond the door.

A sudden bright light was turned on and it blinded Scarlet.

"Stop right there. State your name and why you are here." It was a woman's voice and it sounded like it held great authority.

Scarlet heard Nora talk in a quiet calm tone of Voice. "My name is Nora and I come to the rail road for help."

The bright light went off and Scarlet heard footsteps run towards them. She heard Nora gasp in pain as a woman with short silvery hair wrapped her arms around Nora and laughed. "Its been ages! How are you Nora!"

Nora smiled as she took a shaky pain filled breath and steadied her self when the woman let her go. "I'm a bit banged up, but ok for the most part Gloria. I came here for help. Do you think Desdemona will help me?"

The silver haired woman smiled as she nodded her head. "After everything you have done for us? You don't even need to ask for help Nora."

Nora smiled "Good, that's all I needed to hear…" Nora collapsed and the Silver haired woman caught her before she could hit the ground. She looked at Scarlet with wide eyes. "What happened?"

((Nick Valentine Detective agency))

Danse and Hancock laid the unconscious man on Nicks couch. Shaun and Ed-e were talking quietly with Ellie as piper and Nick stood staring at the stranger on the couch. Nick shook his head and looked at Danse. "Who the hell is he and why is he on my couch?"

Danse took a deep breath. "His name is Craig Boone. He's looking for his wife, she was kidnapped and taken to the institute by a synth calling his self Shaun. We think she was targeted because she had succsesful…"

Shaun ran over and looked at Nick with a smile. "She has robotic parts implanted according to what said."

Nick shook his head. He's heard of people trying to become robotic only to fail horribly. A robotic heart that could keep you alive a bit longer, robotic lungs that would let you smoke anything and not worry about it. Lost arms or legs replaced with robot parts to keep living a normal life. Then there is the flip side. Synths wanting to be more human. Nick lit a cigarette and shook his head. Everyone wants to be anything but themselves. Nick looked at Danse then at Hancock. "And you thought I might know a way into the institute?"

Danse and Shaun nodded there heads. Hancock laughed. "Nora's back, as soon as we find her she can take him there."

Everyone looked at Hancock with wide eyes. Danse took a few steps towards him. "She's back and your just now telling us?"

Hancock shrugged his shoulders. "I told Piper before I saw you running from a suicider like a scared little girl."

Danse gritted his teeth but kept his voice calm. "Where is she John?"

Hancock sighed as he looked down at the floor. "I don't know."

Piper and Danse both looked at Hancock as they both spoke at the same time. "What happened?"

Hancock took a step back knowing he was gonna get decked hard by two strong people. "She uh, came to me for help, an I might have been drunk when I might have pointed a gun at her and told her to leave. She had another woman with her…I think Nora called her Scarlet, Nora begged me to hide her at least since she was pregnant." Hancock nearly jumped out of his skin when a hand grabbed his arm from behind.

"WHAT?"

Hancock looked at the man that they had brought in. He was now sitting up and was gripping his arm in a death grip.

The man let go and stood up. He took a step closer as he reached up and unlatched his helmet letting it fall to the ground with a loud thud. "What did you say filthy fucking ghoul?!" He asked in a low threatening voice.

Hancock glared at the man as he took a deep breath. "I told them to get the fuck out, Nora and the pregnant red headed bitch..."

Hancock didn't get a chance to blink before he felt his face explode as Boone grabbed him by his shirt and slammed his other fist into Hancock's face. He pulled back and slammed his fist with full force into Hancock's face. Hancock tried to back away and fell back as he tripped on a stack of papers. He tried to put his hands up to defend his self but Boone kept punching him with quick hard blows.

Danse and Nick shouted at Boone to stop as they grabbed him and tried to pull him off Hancock. Piper was trying to pull Hancock out from under Boone and was screaming at Boone to stop when Hancock's hands fell to his sides, his face bloody and broken.

Ed-e let out a sudden loud high pitched screeching that made everyone cover there ears. Nick and Danse slammed Boone into a wall as Piper put her body over Hancock to protect him. Boone yelled out in anger as he balled his fist. "She was fucking pregnant you God damn ghoul!"

Hancock tried to sit up but piper pushed him back down. She looked at Shaun and pointed at the door. "Get security and the doctor here now!"

Ed-e was flying around giving off scared and confused beeps. Ellie pushed the bot into a bathroom and shut the door on it.

Boone tried to get up but Danse and Nick pushed him back to the ground. Boone struggled to get up but he was held down with strong arms. "Let me go! She's pregnant and alone!"

Nick shook his head. "I don't think so, not after the stunt you just pulled!"

Boone tried to punch at Nick but Danse punched him hard across his face. Boone blinked before Danse punched him again and knocked him out.


	5. The Warning

(((I started this story to get back into writing before going back to my other stories that I have started. This was intended to be a quick fun to write story that mashes fallout 4 with New Vegas since I've been playing New Vegas. I lost my PS4 and my Fallout 4 game when my house burned down and literally everything is being done from memory. I do apologize if things are a but off. I wanted to wait to get Fallout 4 before trying to write again, but I cant hold it back anymore. I have to write!

So, regarding this story I have sat and did a bit of research for it (I don't plan anything, the story comes how it presents its self to my mind at the time of typing). Like I said I started this with it being a story to have fun with, but I have hit the point where I need to explain the thought behind it. The events of New Vegas from what I have read is six years before New Vegas. I wanted the Commonwealth to be well after the time the sole survivor woke up. So I'm hoping that 16 years is a good amount of time. The New Vegas ending for this story (I have not finished the game yet, I'm on my first play through still) has House still in control of the strip with the NCR patrolling. The Brotherhood was destroyed and so was the legion. The fallout 4 ending is with Nora taking control of the Institute with all intentions of doing good. The brotherhood is destroyed and everyone believes she destroyed. The minutemen are still around and have gotten stronger. So far Piper is the new mayor of Diamond city. I will probably bend a few rules and change a few things so the story flows better. Thank you for reading and I hope and pray I can keep the story going and keep it interesting. Feed back is always welcome and helpful. )))

((Institute))

Shawn walked into the room and looked at the people sitting around the table. Each person had a gen 1 synth standing behind them with a gun aimed at each person. He calmly walked to the head of the table and sat facing the terrified faces before him.

He looked at each person then leaned back in his chair. "So, this is Nora's choice of new directors. Who would like to speak first?"

A woman with dark black hair shook as she spoke in a quiet shaken voice. "My name is Rosa Filmore, Nora had me take over my mothers position when she passed away. I have a husband and a child on the way. If you want me to stand down from my position I am.."

Shaun held a hand up stopping her mid sentence. "I am satisfied with your position and my condolences on your mothers passing. Though I have never personally met her, the memories the original Shaun had of her were good. You may leave and continue your work."

Rosa nodded and stood up. "Thank you sir." She started to turn and head for the door.

Shaun glared at her. "Just one thing I need to ask before you leave."

Rosa stopped and turned to face Shaun shaking as she waited for him to speak. Shaun leaned forward and placed his hands on the table. "Do you agree with Nora's plan to release Synths with medical upgrades to the surface?"

Rosa took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. "Nora just wanted to help people. Her idea may not of been the best, but it was a good step in the right direction if this place ever wants to continue existing." Rosa prayed her response was what he wanted to hear.

Shaun smiled and sat back in his chair. "Go and be with your husband, we will talk more later."

Rosa rushed out of the room as fast as she could with an armored Synth keeping pace behind her. Shaun sighed as he looked at a man sitting in the robotics chair. He was bald and had a featureless face. He wore a lab coat with the red robotics logo on it. Shawn nodded at him and spoke in a calm but quiet voice. "What is your name?"

The man sat up and grinned at Shaun. "Deacon sir."

Shaun tilted his head and looked at the table for a moment. He looked back up at Deacon and gave him an evil grin. "All names have meaning. Some are more meaningful then others. Do you know what your name means?"

Deacon shook his head. "I have no idea what my name means. It was just something my mother though was nice. Probably some other man in her life had it and she liked it, maybe she read it in a book. I don't know."

Shaun nodded. "Your name is an old English name. It means several things, all quite interesting."

Deacon took a deep breath and matched Shaun's glare as he prepared his mind for what he knew was coming.

Shaun stood up and slowly walked around the table as he spoke. "Every Synth in this room has a gun. I have already made my choice as to who will survive this and who will be permanently stepping down. Things will be much more different in the institute after this. There will be no more time wasted doing leisurely walk abouts, no more idle time while projects go unfinished for days. From this time on everything will have a deadline, a schedule, a purpose." Shaun stopped walking and looked at Deacon. "It is only fitting that the meanings of your name apply heavily to this situation. Servant, dusty one and messenger." Shaun grinned as he continued walked around the table stopping when he was next to Deacon pulled out an envelope.

Deacon started to reach for the envelope but Shaun shook his head. "No, this isn't for you. Its for Nora. See, I recognize you from several pictures I found while looking through a file labeled The rail road. It appears the man that I was replicated from had a deep hate for that group." Shaun laughed as he shook his head, "To think that a synth could have independent thought and free will is quite absurd."

Deacon shook his head and laughed with Shaun. He stopped laughing for a moment and glared at Shaun. "That's a good one, best joke I've heard in a while. A psychotic synth with a sense of humor."

Shaun stopped laughing and grabbed Deacons lab coat and pushed the envelope down the front. "Make sure Nora gets this. You are but a meager servant flitting from one faction to another. First the rail road and now the institute. Your services are no longer needed here." Shaun looked around the room at all the unfamiliar faces. He didn't bother to learn the names of the other people sitting around the desk. There was no need to since they wouldn't be apart of the institute much longer anyway. Shaun looked back down at Deacon and grinned. "You are all fired."

The synths behind the other people shot each person in the head all at the same time. Deacon shook his head as he watched the bodies of the people he had at one time called friends twitch. He looked back at Shaun with tears in his eyes. "Your more fucked up then the real Shaun!"

Shaun grinned as he leaned closer to Deacon. "No, I just don't have any of those pesky human emotions that tend to get in the way of things. I think I've changed my mind. I was going to send you alive but I think my message will be greater heard if I send you back with a few extra holes." Deacon struggled to get out of Shaun's grip. He pulled his hand back and hit Shaun hard across his jaw. He howled in pain when his fingers broke. Deacon took deep pain filled breaths as he held his hand close to his chest

Shaun looked at the synth behind Deacon and nodded his head. The synth handed Shaun its gun. Shaun looked at Deacon and smiled. "I'm not built like other Synths, Father planned on me lasting for quite awhile, unlike you and the rest of the flesh bags above." Shaun pressed the gun against Deacons chest and pulled the trigger the shot was muffled by his body. Shaun let go of Deacon and watched as his body dropped to the ground. Deacon held his hand to the bullet wound in his chest as he gasped in pain. He coughed and blood dripped out of his mouth. He let out a raspy laugh as he looked up at the psychotic synth. "She's going to be back, she worked too fucking hard on trying to make life better for people and synths." He coughed again as more blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

Shaun nodded as he watched the black robotics emblem stand out with Deacons blood. He knelt down and grinned. "Yes, that is true. I have seen all the synths she's built. All ready to go and save the commonwealth as everyone holds hands and dances to a happy ending. I read all the files on how She equipped them with medical knowledge and so called free will. But I have already rewrote some of the programing she installed into them." Shaun laughed as he looked around the blood splattered room. "Instead of helping preserve mankind, they are going to destroy it. They are going to wipe out every human they find, every man, woman and child will be wiped from existence." Shaun stood up and spread his arms open as he continued to speak. "I will then create the next evolution of man, humanoid synths that can age, grow and even create life!"

Deacon shook his head as everything started spinning. He tried to get up but was too week to even lift his head. He took a few shallow breaths and spoke quietly. "Your fucking crazy!"

Shaun shook his head as he reloaded the gun. "No. I'm only crazy if I continue to let all the neanderthals continue there wanton destruction of this world. I'm sending you and the other lifeless meat bags in this room to Diamond city. Ill be sending you with a small fleet of combat ready synths to let the world above know its time to start saying your goodbyes." Shaun cocked the gun as he aimed it at Deacons head and pulled the trigger.

((Diamond city))

Boone slowly opened his eyes, his mind confused as to what had happened as he realized he was laying on something hard and flat. He blinked as he took a deep breath and sat up. His head started pounding and he closed his eyes for a moment waiting for the pain to subside. He tried to lift his hand to his face and felt it was attached to something. He quickly opened his eyes and looked at his hand and saw he was handcuffed to a cot that was attached to the wall. All of his armor had been removed and he had been stripped down to just his shirt and pants. He looked at his feet and saw his boots had also been removed. Shaking his head he looked up and saw he was sitting in a jail cell.

Boone closed his eyes and tried to remember what had happened and why he would be locked up. He slowed his breathing and forced his mind to work through the fog. Last memory he could think of was being knocked back by that blast from the suicide mutant but his mind wasn't letting him focus .

The sound of a door knob being turned pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see Danse walk into the outer room of the jail cell.

Boone glared at Danse. "What the fuck happened Danse?"

Danse stopped walking and looked at Boone. He shook his head as calmly walked to a desk and grabbed a chair dragging it across the floor before. He sat in it and crossed his arms as he glared back at Boone. "You nearly killed someone."

Boone looked down at the floor as he tried to remember but his mind was blank beyond the blast. "The mutants?" He asked as he shook his head in confusion.

Danse let out a dry laugh. "I guess Hancock does fall under the category of mutant. You don't remember beating a ghoul to an inch of his life?"

Boone closed his eyes and only got glimpses of a scarred face and the sense of pure rage. "Was I angry when I did it? I tend to black out if I get too pissed off."

Danse nodded his head. "I would say you were more then pissed off, hell I think everyone was pissed off at that point."

Boone shook his head. "What happened? What pissed me off so bad that I cant even remember who I fucked up?"

Danse took a deep breath. "We found your wife, she's with our friend Nora."

Boone nearly ripped his arm out of its socket when he stood up. "Is she here? Is she safe?"

Danse shook his head as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "We don't know where she is. The man you beat was the first person Nora went to for help and he denied her. Then when she pleaded with him to help your wife he aimed a gun at Nora and made it clear he didn't want to help her or anyone that was with her." Danse paused as he looked up at Boone and saw his face slowly twist with anger as he absorbed what Danse had told him.

"Yeah, that would have pissed me off enough to make me go into a blind rage." He balled his fist and sat on the cot shaking his head.

Danse took a deep breath and decided to tell him the rest. "He… also said your wife was pregnant."

Boone took a deep breath and sat motionless as he stared at the ground. "pregnant?"

Danse nodded his head. "Yeah, but don't worry. She's with Nora and I know Nora, she wont let anything happen to your wife."

Boone shook his head as he continued to stare at the floor. No, not again this cant happen again. He leaned forward and lowered his head as he spoke in a quiet voice. "This will be my third kid."

Danse tilted his head as he saw Boone slump his shoulders. "Where are your other two kids?"

Boone took a deep breath and shook his head. He didn't like to talk much about Carla or the first kid they would have had together. "I met my first wife at New Vegas while I was on leave after what had happened at bitter springs. She was young, an hell so was I. I thought that if we lived in a quiet place far away from the city, away from the NCR and my memories of bitter springs that we might of have had a chance to live a peaceful and quiet life."

Danse shook his head. "You must have been very young to of thought that."

Boone nodded his head. "She was unhappy living out in the middle of nowhere with no friends. She was born and raised in the safety of New Vegas and she complained about everything. I figured it was just her way of adjusting to a new life. She may have complained about a lot of things, but we were in love and she would of happily followed me to hell if that's where we ended up." Boone balled his fists. "She left one night with a huge smile on her face. She had been sick for a few days and I had finally talked her into seeing the town doctor. I Kissed her goodbye for the last time before she left. Hours went by and it started getting dark. I went to see if she was still at the doctor and I saw her shoe just lying out in the open. I saw footprints around it and knew she must have been kidnapped. I fallowed the footprints to a legion slave camp and I climbed the cliffs to get a better look at the camp. I watched as Carla, chained to some other women, was forced onto a platform. I nearly threw up when I realized they were auctioning her off to be a slave."

Boone took a deep breath and closed his eyes as a tear fell down his cheek. His voice cracked as he spoke. "She was so beautiful and I had heard about the horrible stories of what legion soldiers did to female slaves. Their was no way I could have fought so many soldiers and save her too. So I took the one shot that only mattered, the one shot that would save her from a life of pain and suffering." Boone lowered his head and could only breath as he felt his heart break again with the memories flashing through his mind.

Danse got up and grabbed a set of keys from the wall. He unlocked the door to the cell and sat next to Boone. He placed his hand on Boones back and spoke quietly. "You did what no other man would have had the guts to do. You saved her."

Boone shook his head. "I shot my wife, I later found out she was kidnapped while she was on her way back from the doctor…she was pregnant."

Danse took a deep breath and let it out. This man has had nothing but sadness and death in his life. Explains why he went off on Hancock the way he did.

Danse hated to ask but he pulled his hand back and asked. "And your second kid?"

Boone looked at his hands for a moment. At least he got to see that one. "He died about an hour after Scarlet gave birth to him. Doc Mitchel said it just happens sometimes." Boone paused when he heard a distant scream.

Danse stood up and stared at the door. More screams made him run to the door and open it disappearing as he ran through it.

Boone tried to pull his arm away from the cot but the handcuff was locked tight. He stopped trying to free his self when he heard metallic footsteps slowly walk towards the open door. They sounded off and made metallic scrapes as the steps got closer. A tall robot that looked human appeared in the doorway and looked at Boone with glowing eyes.

Boone took one look and felt a small flicker of fear. He had no weapon or armor and was cuffed to a bed that was chained to the wall. He franticly struggled with the Cuffs as the metallic being took a few steps closer and aimed a gun at him.

((New Railroad Headquarters ))

Scarlet fallowed Glory as she carried Nora. She told Glory about everything that had happened in the institute and about what had happened at Goodneighbor. Glory just shook her head and mumbled some curse words as she rushed down the tunnel. Scarlet couldn't believe the woman was carrying Nora like she weighed nothing. As soon as they walked through a doorway a man ran up to them and took one look at Nora and stopped dead in his tracks. "Is that…"

Glory nodded and rushed passed him. They arrived to another door and Glory kicked the door open as she rushed through it. A woman sitting at a desk jumped out of her chair and glared at Glory as she laid Nora on a bed.

"Glory! What…oh God…is she still alive?" she spoke in a soft accent Scarlet had never heard before. She grabbed a doctors bag and rushed it to the bed. She pulled out a pair of scissors and started removing Nora's clothes.

Glory nodded her head and turned to the door. "She's alive, but she's hurt bad Curie. Do you think you can fix her?"

Curie let out a gasp when she found the wound on Nora's back. "It is bad yes, but I think I can patch her up."

Glory nodded as she grabbed Scarlet's hand and pulled her to the door. "Good. I'm taking her to Desdemona, I'll be back later to check on her."

Glory kept a firm hold on Scarlet's hand as they wound there way through the tunnels stopping at a large door. Glory turned to Scarlet as she opened the door. "Tell Desdemona everything you told me, I got to get back to my post. Desdemona has long red and gray hair, she's hard to miss."

Glory gently pushed Scarlet through the door and shut it behind her with a loud slam. Scarlet looked around and saw she was in a large room with a few dozen people sitting at terminals typing on keyboards. She looked up and saw a woman looking at her with a fierce face full of confusion. Her hair was a dull red with wisps of grey streaked though here and there. She walked down a set of stairs and walked past the row of terminals. As she approached scarlet she held a hand out. "My name is Desdemona, I have received word you arrived here with Nora."

Scarlet shook her hand as she looked at her with a confusion. "How did you know…?"

Desdemona smiled "Word travels fast down here." She motioned for Scarlet to fallow her as she led the way to a small room that had a couch and a few recliners. She sat in a recliner and motioned for Scarlet to sit. "Sit anywhere you want, I need to know everything."

Scarlet took a deep breath and started with Shaun hiring her to take him to Boston and ended with how they arrived in Goodneighbor.

Desdemona shook her head and took a deep breath. "I'm guessing John didn't take her arrival well?"

Scarlet nodded. "He pointed a gun at her and told her to leave."

Desdemona lit a cigarette and nearly inhaled the whole thing in one breath. "This complicates everything Nora and I had planned to do."

Scarlet nodded her head. "Yeah , Nora told me about building synths to help people."

Desdemona laughed. "That's just a drop in the bucket dear, there was so many more things being worked on. Deacon, a good friend and my second in command kept me informed on everything. Had a feeling something happened when I never received his report today." She shook he head. "I pray he's ok."

Scarlet looked around and took a deep breath. "How long before I can leave. I need to find my husband and let him know I'm ok."

Desdemona shook her head. "I cant just let you leave, Nora brought you here for a reason and until she wakes up you're a guest here otherwise."

Scarlet leaned back and crossed her arms. She was starting to feel like a prisoner going from one prison to another. "I need to find him before he does something stupid trying to find me."

Desdemona shook her head. "I can send out a patrol to find him and bring him here if that helps."

Scarlet thought about it then nodded her head. "Ok, his name is Boone…"

Desdemona held up a hand. "Its ok dear we can scan his image from your memories, works so much better then a description. Nora was able to smuggle us some Institute tech to help us repair the broken synths." She stood up and motioned for Scarlet to fallow her. "I'll take you to the residential quarters, you get some food and find a bed if you need some rest. I'll send someone for you when Nora wakes up and we get a better plan of what were going to do about Shaun."

Desdemona led scarlet out of a side door in the room and guided her through the hallways to another door and opened it. "Just make yourself comfortable and I'll send a memory tech over tonight to get a scan of your husband." Desdemona gave scarlet a smile and squeezed her shoulder before walking away.

Scarlet walked into the room and saw she was in a large open cavern like place with bunk beds lining the walls. She saw a living area near some stoves and a line of fridges on a back wall. She walked to the fridges and saw something flash in a corner. She looked at it and laughed. It was an old eyebot that had been shoved aside. Nora approached it and saw it was broken with wires sticking out here and there. She dragged it to a table then looked around the room for some spare parts and saw a workbench tucked away in a corner. She smiled when she saw it was piled high with tools and scrap parts.

Scarlet went back to the eyebot with arms full of parts and tools. She dropped it all onto the table and sat as she started to work on the eyebot.

She pried off a cover and saw it had a fried circuit board. Some of its wires had been chewed on and were frayed. She had her work cut out, but at least it was something to keep her mind occupied. She pulled out the circuit board and gasped when she saw the locater array. Ed-e had a similar locater array that she had left intact. He didn't need it but she figured it would come in handy someday.

Scarlet smiled when she pulled out the aray and started working on it. If she could get it to work then all she could link this Bot with Ed-e and maybe even establish a radio communication between the two.

Scarlet started thinking about Boone as she worked. By now he was probably worried sick about her. He would have just grabbed what he needed from the wagon and would have left the rest behind. She groaned as she thought about all her belongings she had packed into it. By now everything was probably picked over by scavengers and was long gone.

Scarlet reached for a pocket and smiled when her fingers wrapped around Boones NCR tags. "Don't do anything stupid." She whispered quietly as she continued to work on the eye bot.

((Boone))

Boone stared down the barrel of the gun the synth was aiming at him. Boone took a deep breath as he relaxed his body and stood tall. If this was how he was going to die he was going to face his death with a bravery.

The synth suddenly exploded in a shower of sparks as something slammed into the back of it. Danse appeared in the doorway with a supper sledge on his shoulder. He kicked the synth and rushed to Boone. "Were under attack, do you want to die here or help us?"

Boone looked at the synth then at Danse. "I want to find my wife, so I guess I'll be helping."

Danse pulled out a set of keys and started unlocking the handcuff on Boone's hand. "Good enough I guess. Your weapons and armor is over there," Danse put the key into the cuff then glared at Boone as pointed a finger at his chest. He spoke in a low threatening voice. " Abandon us and I'll hunt you down and kill you myself. I'm risking my neck letting you go."

Boone nodded his head. "I understand." Danse twisted the key unlocking the cuff. It clanked on the metal frame as he turned away from Boone and ran back to the desk.

Boone rubbed his wrist as he rushed to get his armor and weapons. He put his armor on as fast as he could and picked up his guns. "Where's Ed-e?"

Danse cocked a gun he found in the desk and spoke as he walked out the door. "It's safe with Shaun."

Boone took a deep breath as he followed Danse while locking his helmet into place. Danse kicked the door open and motioned for Boone to fallow. Boone saw nothing but chaos as he stepped out into the sunshine. People were screaming and running as synths chased them. Some synths were shooting while others were attacking people, clawing at them like crazed animals.

Boone saw a synth jump on a small girl and he cringed at the sound of her terrified screams. He aimed his gun and pulled the trigger. The synths head exploded with a shower of sparks as it's body went limp. The girl pushed it off her, got up and ran.

Danse shot a few synths that were shooting randomly at people and they turned to face him. Boone had to duck when a few of their shots missed Danse. Boone started to take aim at one of them and watched it crumple to the ground with bullet holes randomly perforating its body. Boone turned and saw a yellow eyed synth wearing a fedora and a duster was shooting at others synths that started to surround him. He was trying to protect a young woman that was crouched at his feet.

Danse grabbed Boones coat and pulled on it as he started running. "Come on, we need to move!"

Boone kept pace behind Danse as he shot at any synth he could see. They appeared to multiply just as fast as they were being gunned down. Danse led him into a building and pointed at a stairway leading up. "How good is your sniping skills?"

Boone grinned. "It was my specialty."

Danse nodded. "Good!" Danse ran up the stairs With Boone hot on his heels and waited as Danse climbed a ladder to a hatch above them. Boone pulled his self through the hatch and saw they were standing in a gutted out buss. He could see all around the city and could see the synths were slowly becoming less and less.

Danse rushed to one of the buss windows and looked up. "Had a feeling she was the main target, the ground synths are just a diversion." He motioned for Boone to approach. Boone stood next to Danse and looked up to see what he was talking about. Boone looked through a large distant window and saw some synths were trying to break down a door. The next large window allowed him to see what was in the room and he saw a woman was standing in front of a younger woman with a gun aimed at the door. Boone looked back at the synths trying to break through and nodded at them. "I gather they're the target?"

Danse pulled out a gun and nodded. "I'll cover for you, don't let them through, I don't know if they want Piper alive or not, but they'll kill Nate for sure."

Boone unslung his sniper rifle and got into positon. He lined up his sights and took a guess of range and positon. Sniping with out a spotter was tough but he's done it before. Boone aimed for a synth and pulled his trigger. The glass shattered and synth he was aiming at turned and looked right at him. The others quickly turned and pointed at Danse and Boone. They all aimed their guns and started firing at the buss Boone and Danse were standing in. Boone calmly tried to line the synth up in his sight again and pulled the trigger. He cursed when the wall behind the synth exploded with his missed shot.

Danse shot at a few Synths on the ground that were now shooting at them, dropping them as he looked up at the window where piper was. He saw the synths turn back to the door and started kicking it in again. "Thought you said you were a sniper?"

Boone let out a frustrated sigh as he tried to line up his next shot. "Kind of hard to do without a spotter at this distance."

Danse looked at the windows then back at Boone. He quickly knelt next to Boone and looked at the synths. "Ill spot you, as a paladin I trained myself to be proficient with every thing possible."

Boone laughed. "My wife was a paladin at one time. Ok then, lets put your spotter skills to the test." Boone took a deep breath and looked through his scope "Shooter ready!"

Danse looked at Boone with wide eyes when something clicked in his mind. He shook his head clearing his thoughts and looked back up at piper then at Boone. Piper would have to come first.

"Target at 12 o clock, at window, 35meters off."

Boone adjusted his aim.

"Range is 854."

Boone readjusted "854."

Danse took a deep breath and prayed his calculations were on target. "Fire when ready."

Boone didn't blink when he pulled the trigger and saw all three Synths drop to the ground with a clean hole through each head. He was damn lucky they were lined up behind the one he was aiming at.

Boone stood up and sling the sniper rifle back on his shoulder as he pulled out a smaller gun and started shooting the synths on the ground. Danse blinked as he pulled his gun out and went to the other end of the buss and started shooting synths from the window.

After a few more shots Boone stopped firing and scanned the area for more synths. He saw the one wearing the fedora look around before pulling out a cigarette and light it up.

Danse put his gun away and turned to Boone. "You said your wife was a paladin?"

Boone nodded as he watched Danse grab the hatch. "Yeah, it wasn't for very long though, the chapter she was with…didn't last long."

Danse paused before opening the hatch. He looked at the ground then at Boone. "You said you were from the Mojave?"

Boone looked at Danse with a feeling something was bothering him. He wasn't sure about Danse and knew it probably wasn't a good idea to mention it was his wife that had wiped out the Mojave Chapter. "Yeah, been there nearly all my life."

Danse turned to face Boone and gave him an expressionless glare. "Do you know what happened to the Brotherhood chapter that was massacred sixteen years ago?" Danse crossed his arms as he waited for Boone's answer.

Boone kept his face expressionless as he thought about his answer. He knew exactly what had happened to them. He had helped Scarlet kill nearly every BOS soldier they found in the hidden valley bunker. Boone shook his head and gave Danse the best answer he could. "We heard it was destroyed, Scarlet was at Novac with me when we heard the news." Boone hated lying but he wasn't sure about how Danse would react if he told him the truth.

Danse just stared at Boone as he took a deep breath. He turned away from Boone and opened the hatch without saying another word. Boone followed him down the ladder and back to the door that brought them here.

Danse walked out the door with a gun in hand as Boone walked behind him. They ran into the synth wearing the fedora and thread wore trench coat. The synth looked at Danse then at Boone. "Piper's not going to like him being loose."

Danse glanced at Boone then back at the synth. "I don't like it either Nick, but he did help."

Boone looked at the synth "I don't know what it is that I did to piss everyone off, but if my help is no longer needed I will be more then happy to leave."

Nick nodded his head as he lit another cigarette. "Yeah, I think that would be a great idea."

"Fine by me, then." Boone looked at Danse "I'm going to need my eyebot."

The synth laughed. "That noisy thing? He's probably still in the bathroom in my office making a racket."

Boone glared at the synth through the glass of his helmet. "You locked him in a bathroom? Ed-e hates small spaces! Where is he!"

Nick motioned for Boone to fallow him. "Sounds like you care about that little machine."

Boone fallowed Nick as Danse stayed behind. "He's more human then any machine I've met so far."

Nick laughed again. As he walked past takahashi's noodle shop. Boone was looking at a broken synth on the ground and bumped into Nick. He stepped back and saw he was staring at a pile of bodies wearing white lab coats.

Nick knelt down to turn one of the bodies. He jerked he hand back and cursed as he quickly stood up shaking his head with disbelief. Boone stepped forward and looked down at the body that was drenched with blood. He had a long gash on the side of his bald head and a bullet hole in his chest. "Did you know this man?"

Nick knelt down as he nodded his head. "His name was Deacon, he was apart of a group that helped synths escape the institute." Nick looked at an envelope that was sticking out of the front of his lab coat.

He reached for it and started to pull it when a hand grabbed Nicks hand. "Tell Nora…tell her to run… he wants to kill her… to kill everyone!" The man took a ragged breath then looked up at Nick with tears in his eyes.

Nick took the envelope and shoved it into a pocket in his coat. "Thought you were dead Deacon."

The man smiled as a trickle of blood fell from the corner of his mouth. "Takes… more then….a bullet to kill…." He closed his eyes and struggled to took a few ragged breaths.

Nick took hold of his hand as Deacon struggled to breath. "Thank you for everything Deacon, many synths and people are alive and living free because of everything you've done."

Deacon smiled at Nick as he silently mouthed something to him before his breathing stopped and his body went limp. Nick laid his hand across his chest as he closed Deacons eyes. "You were a good friend and you will be missed."

Boone turned when he heard footsteps running in his direction. He put his hands up when he saw a woman was rushing towards him with a gun aimed at his head. He slowly turned so the rest of his body was facing her.

"You have three seconds to explain why your not still locked up!" She cocked the gun and glared at him.

Boone stood still as he answered her. "I'm leaving, I just need my eyebot and I'm gone."

She continued to glare at Boone before she looked down at Nick. "You ok Nick? Didn't beat you up too did he?"

Nick stood up and stepped back letting her see the pile of bodies that lay behind him. "I'm fine Piper, put the gun down and let him be."

She glared at Boone before unloading the bullet to put her gun away. She looked down as she put it in its holster and gasped. "Is that Deacon!" She shoved Boone aside and she knelt next to the still body.

Nick took his hat off and Nodded. "Yeah its him Piper."

She grabbed his hand and held it tight as she shook her head. "I thought he died when…." Piper shook her head. "Blue said she destroyed the railroad."

Nick glanced at Boone then back at Piper. "Nora must have had her reasons," Nick looked at Boone and tossed him a key. "Just leave it on the desk when you leave."

Boone caught the key then looked at Nick. "What does it unlock?"

Nick pointed at a glowing pink neon sign. "Just follow that and you'll find my office."

Boone turned and walked in the direction the gaudy pink sign pointed at. He found another sign pointing at a door that was busted into pieces. Boone grabbed his gun and slowly walked in. He saw a woman lying on the floor with papers and folders surrounding her. He looked up and saw the bathroom was wide open. Boone rushed to the woman on the ground and felt for a pulse. She was still alive and stirred at his touch.

Boone picked her up and laid her on the couch with a blanket covering her. He looked around and saw laser burns on the walls from ED-e's laser. "Ed-E!" he yelled hoping the bot was still ok.

The woman sat up and looked at Boone. She held her head and moaned in pain. "They took them."

Boone took his helmet off and held it in one hand as he flipped a chair over and sat on it. "Who?"

She took a deep breath and shook her head. "Your Eyebot and Shaun, A courser busted the door open and grabbed Shaun. Your eye-bot tried to protect Shaun and it disappeared with them when Shaun grabbed it."

Boone took a deep breath and shook his head. He felt like he was still being punished for his actions at bitter springs. He stood up and looked around. "I'm really starting to hate this institute place." He looked at the woman before he put his helmet back on. "Is their anything I can do to help you before i leave?"

The woman shook her head. "I'm ok, thank you."

Boone put his helmet back on and tossed the key Nick gave him onto the desk. He walked out the broken door and walked as fast as he could to the gates of Diamond city trying hard to avoid everyone he walked by.

He stood at the gate that led out and didn't look back as he chose a direction and just started walking. Danse watched Boone walk away before he stepped out of the shadows. He grabbed a bag that was sitting next to him and slung it across his shoulders as he quietly started following Boone.


End file.
